AJ McLean recounts the time he helped Aaron Carter enter rehab.
In a specially featured clip with PEOPLE from the upcoming documentary Aaron Carter: Prince of PopMcLean, who was on the Backstreet Boys with the star’s brother, Nick Carter, opened up when Carter called him to ask for help.
“2017, Aaron reached out to me, asking for help. I said, ‘Look, if you get on the plane, come to LA, I’ll get you treated.’ And it turned out,” McLean, 45, says in the clip. “I was shocked but happy and admitted to a treatment center in Malibu.”
He continued, “I spoke to him a few days later, and then he somehow got off the map. I think it was two weeks, so I called my friends at the treatment center and they said he was checking himself out.”
McLean also talked about his battle with addiction.
“I was a functioning addict. I’ve been in and out of rooms since 2001, so I’ve been fighting on my own for 22 years,” she said. “I almost lost my marriage, I almost lost my band, I almost lost my life. The last time I relapsed, which was 18 months ago, my youngest daughter was like a nail in a coffin.”
McLean said, “I don’t smell like his father. That was enough. That has largely done it for me, and I’ve been sober ever since and plan to stay sober. It’s an everyday thing.”
Aaron Carter: Prince of Pop It will begin airing on Hulu on May 1. The documentary is about the life and family of the “I Want Candy” singer, who solidified her place in pop music in the early 2000s and traveled the world as a child star, and eventually her mental health struggles. Mayhem and addiction before his death in November.
It will also feature interviews with his ex-fiancee and his son’s mother, Melanie Martin; Taylor Helgeson, his best friend and manager; Trying to help Carter on his journey to addiction, former host of “The Doctors” Dr. Travis Stork; Christy Carlson Romano, former Disney Channel child star; Phil Lobel, Carter’s former publisher and more.
Carter’s cause of death was determined earlier this month.
RELATED VIDEO: Aaron Carter Drowned In Tub After Drinking Xanax And Shot With Compressed Air: Forensic Officer
According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, the 34-year-old musician choked after inhaling difluoroethane and taking alprazolam. Difluoroethane is a gas often used in compressed air cans and can be sprayed to produce a high gas, while alprazolam is the generic form of the brand name Xanax.
The report, obtained by PEOPLE, states that Carter “was incapacitated while in the tub,” the drugs were working, slipping below the water’s surface, and eventually drowning.
Carter was found dead at his home in Lancaster, California, on November 5. Police sources told PEOPLE that he was found in his bathtub by a housekeeper at the time, and there were prescription pills and drug paraphernalia in his bedroom.