Plagued by personal issues throughout his life, Aaron Carter, the Y2K-era pop teen idol and brother of Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter, has died at the age of 34.
Initially reported by TMZ, the younger Carter was found unresponsive in his bathtub at his home in Lancaster, California. A spokesperson for the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station confirmed to Rolling Stone that the department received a call concerning the deceased at 10:58 a.m. Saturday morning, but did not release the victim’s name. A rep for Nick Carter told the New York Post that it was Aaron who died.
Carter’s troubles began more than a decade ago, when he first checked himself into rehab in 2011 “to heal some emotional and spiritual issues he was dealing with,” said his manager at time. Carter’s sister Leslie, who Aaron later accused of sexually abusing him when he was 10, died of a drug overdose in 2012.
In 2018 following a stint at a treatment center Carter told People “I definitely felt like I hit a rock bottom personally and emotionally.” “I started getting really stressed out about things like my relationship or the expectations people had for me, and then I just stopped eating. That’s when I thought ‘This is a time for me to really go take some time and do some self-healing.’”
In 1997 at the age of nine, Carter released his self-titled debut solo LP and secured a spot opening for his brother Nick’s Backstreet Boys, which made him an overnight global sensation. His second full length, the platinum-selling 2000’s Aaron’s Party (Come Get It), featured his biggest hits “I Want Candy” and the album’s title track.
Before the era of the boy band faded, Carter would release two more Top 20 albums – 2001’s Oh Aaron and 2002’s Another Earthquake – and would come with what was his final album, Love, in 2018.
A budding teen actor, Carter also appeared on episodes of Lizzie McGuire and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch along with appearances in the reality show House of Carters and Dancing With the Stars.
In recent years, Carter’s gaunt appearance and admitted drug use became the fodder for tabloids and in 2020, he made headlines after launching an OnlyFans account where he charged fans for nude photos.
About Aaron’s passing, fellow teen idol, Hilary Duff wrote “I’m deeply sorry that life was so hard for you and that you had to struggle in front of the whole world,” “You had a charm that was absolutely effervescent. Boy did my teenager self love you deeply.”
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Author: Saul Goode
Photo: Will Fisher