Angel Carter Shares How She Keeps Twin Brother Aaron Carter’s Memory Alive for Her Daughter (Exclusive)

• Angel Carter told PEOPLE how she keeps her brother Aaron Carter’s memory alive for her daughter Harper Nolle
• The proud mom spoke to PEOPLE on the Cirque du Soleil’s ‘KOOZA’ red carpet on Oct. 24
• Aaron Carter died at the age of 34 in 2022

Angel Carter is keeping her late twin brother’s memory alive for his niece.

Speaking exclusively to PEOPLE at the Cirque du Soleil’s KOOZA red carpet premiere in Santa Monica, Calif., on Thursday, October 24, 2024, Angel, 36, spoke about how she’s speaking to her daughter Harper Noelle, 5, about her brother Aaron Carter, following his death in 2022.

“You know she doesn’t remember him necessarily, but we do talk about him a lot,” Angel, who shares her daughter with husband Corey Conrad, says. “So she sees photos of him in the house, and we have this picture frame called the Aura frame that flashes photos by.”

Angel adds, “And she sees Aaron, and she knows him. And it was really sweet. Just a few months ago, we were in the car, and she said, ‘Mommy, I want to tell you something.’ ”

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“I said, ‘What?’ And she said, ‘Aaron, he lives in my heart, and he talks to me in my heart,’ ” Angel  —  who works with the Kids Mental Health Foundation  —  continues. “And it was really special. It’s really sweet. And I’m just happy that she’s able to know who my twin brother is, and for it to be something positive at this point.”

Speaking about Aaron being an uncle to her daughter, Angel says, “I think for Aaron, because his life was so unique, and because being a child star and not being able to experience real life situations, when we had Harper, I think it was so surreal for him to be around a baby.”

She went on to add that events like her baby shower “were so foreign” to her brother due to his child stardom. “I think to experience that it was, it was just really special,” she said of sharing family events with her twin.

Aaron became a father in November 2021 when he and his on-and-off fiancée Melanie Martin welcomed a baby boy named Prince.

In addition to Aaron, Angel is also the sister of Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter, 44, Leslie Carter — who died from an overdose in 2012 at age 25  — and Bobbie Jean Carter, who died of “intoxication by the combined effects of fentanyl and methamphetamine” at 41 in 2023. Aaron died after drowning due to inhaling difluoroethane and taking alprazolam

Back in June, Angel revealed on The Squeeze podcast that her sister Leslie’s death prepared her for Aaron’s death due to his years-long cycle of addiction.

“What’s so interesting about Leslie’s passing… she passed away when I was 23, her death completely blindsided me,” she said. “I didn’t see that one coming. When she died, I was already in therapy, preparing for Aaron’s death. I thought he was gonna die.”