Former child star Aaron Carter has revealed in a recent interview that he has voluntarily checked himself into rehab in an effort to avoid "triggers" and to regain custody of his baby son, Prince Lyric Carter.
Speaking to The US Sun this week, Carter revealed that, despite being five years sober, he still experiences many "triggers" that threaten his progress.
In a video interview with the British tabloid, the 34-year-old said that he hoped the treatment would help him give up smoking marijuana, and offer assistance in working through the tumultuous relationship he has with his fiancée, Melanie Martin.
"It's an abstinence program and I work with an individual counselor [...] I do group therapy, parenting classes, domestic violence classes, I got myself certified in CPR, just a lot of different things," he told The Sun about the program.
Currently, Carter's 10-month-old son is in the custody of Martin's mother, due to concerns surrounding drug use and disturbing domestic violence claims.
Earlier this year, Page Six reported that Carter's on-and-off again partner, Martin, had accused her baby's father of breaking three of her ribs - revealing in court documents that: "We had a fight about me talking to another man while we were broken up [...] He punched me in the left rib and pushed me. I didn’t feel the pain until a few days later, then I left the house because he threaten to give me a restraining order."
Carter came forward after the accusations and said that Martin was suffering from postpartum depression, with his partner later taking to Instagram to claim that her allegations were "untrue." The couple has since rekindled their romance.
Per the interview, the 'Aron's Party' singer vehemently denied he was struggling with an opioid and Xanax addiction, despite footage circulating of the 00s teen pop icon appearing "out of it," saying: "There is no reason to hide [...] I haven't had any relapses or anything like that, it's just triggers are big right now for me [and] I want my son back."
It was revealed in the article that Carter - whose brother, Nick Carter, was a member of U.S. boyband, the Backstreet Boys - has spent upwards of $200,000 on care this year in an effort to better his health for his young family.
"The main reason why I enrolled into Lionrock Recovery outpatient is to help with the weed. I don't want to smoke weed anymore. I don't really need to. I have a medicinal marijuana license to grow up to 99 plants a year. But I threw away all that gear, I sold all of it, got rid of all my plants and my strains I was growing," he told the paper.
"And I was never even told I had to do that by DCFS [Department of Children and Family Services] or by the State of California. They never took away my guns, they never took away my regimented medications. Even in the court, the DCFS tried to mentally evaluate me, but the judge had one conversation with me and said, 'No, he doesn't need all that. I want to see him do this step, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,'" he added.
As for whether Carter will regain custody of his son, that could be decided in a custody hearing expected to take place this month.