Christy Carlson Romano is opening up about the late Aaron Carter.
Not long after Carter's death last month, Romano revealed that the "I Want Candy" singer was due to appear on her podcast, Vulnerable with Christy Carlson Romano, in October, but didn't show up. While she never got the chance to sit down with the fellow child star, Romano did share what she would've spoken to Carter about, had he appeared on her podcast.
"Of course, this is sort of a sad light that has gone out in our community. I would've really liked to have gotten to know him better. I did not know him that well," Romano told ET's Denny Directo, who spoke to Romano at KIIS FM’s iHeartRadio Jingle Ball 2022 Friday.
Calling her podcast a "safe space for people to share their life's journeys," Romano said she would've liked to give Carter, who had recently welcomed son Prince with ex-fiancée, Melanie Martin, a chance to speak about his family, and share that side of him with the world.
"Before he was gonna come on, we were talking a little bit with him and his manager, about his love of his child," the Even Stevens actress explained. "I'm a parent, and so I wanted to give him an opportunity to really share with everybody that side of him."
Referencing her own struggles growing up in the spotlight, Romano said she wanted to give him that opportunity, and added that she's sad the interview wasn't able to happen.
"We're all human, and we all have our struggles, and I had my struggles. So, I just wanted to kind of give him an opportunity," Romano added. "I'm sad that didn't happen. I grieve it, but I do want change, and I support all positive things in the direction of helping people."
As for how she felt when she heard the news of his tragic passing, the podcast host said she was "super rocked."
"I was grieving for -- you know, it's weird, because a lot of us feel like when we grow up seeing people on our TV screens and listening to them, that they're like, a part of our family," she explained. "I feel the same way because I was also somebody growing up beside him. It's one of those things where it's really deeply effecting me in my community."
"It was hard," Romano added.
Carter was found dead in the bathtub at his home in Lancaster, California Nov. 5. He was 34. Romano joins a slew of celebrities who came up with Carter in the early aughts who remembered the singer following his passing, including Hilary Duff, Lindsay Lohan who both dated Carter.
My heart goes out to his family and may he rest in peace," Lohan said of Carter. "And God bless him… and yeah, just [a] lot of love there."
With Duff writing, "For Aaron -- I'm deeply sorry that life was so hard for you and that you had to struggle in-front of the whole world," she wrote on Instagram.
"You had a charm that was absolutely effervescent...boy did my teenage self love you deeply. Sending love to your family at this time. Rest easy," she continued.
For more on Carter, check out the video below.
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