From a pint-sized singing sensation to a fixture on sitcoms and reality TV,
Aaron Carter had the type of multi-faceted career most performers could only dream of.
But the road to success brought just as much pain and sadness for the former child star.
The way Aaron Carter told it, he always knew he wanted to be a performer. In an
interview quoted by Billboard, the 10-year-old crooner told a reporter,
"I wanted to be a singer since I was very, very little. The first thing I did is I asked my mom
and she said 'I'll take you to lessons.' So she started taking me to lessons."
Those lessons, as far as we can tell, took place at a "rock school" in his native Tampa, Florida,
where a young Carter studied voice, music, and dance. It was here that he landed his first
professional opportunity, becoming the lead singer of an alt-rock band called Dead End.
Unfortunately, that musical partnership didn't last all that long. So the group parted ways,
and Aaron kept pursuing his next big break. He found it in 1997 when he was invited to open
for the Backstreet Boys during the Germany leg of their European tour. The 10-year-old performed a
cover of The Jets' song "Crush on You," an upbeat track that would go on to be his first single.
Aaron Carter's energetic cover of "Crush on You" inspired Jive Records to offer him a record deal.
His debut record, simply titled Aaron Carter, was released in Europe near the end of 1997. It was a
pretty instantaneous hit in that market, selling more than 1 million copies. Having tested the
waters overseas, Jive Records felt confident that Carter could be just as popular with
American audiences, so they remixed the album and released it in the United States in 1998.
While it wasn't as big of a success in the U.S. as it had been across the pond,
it did well enough that the studio greenlit a sophomore effort. Carter's debut album was
also enough of a success that other major pop artists began to take notice of the preteen.
Even before his second record was released, both Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys
had secured Carter as an opening act for legs of their American tours. That level of exposure was
exactly what he needed to go from promising up-and-comer to international superstar.
"I wasn't scared but everybody thought I
was scared." When Aaron Carter's second studio album,
Aaron's Party (Come Get It), hit the shelves, he became something of a household name overnight. At
least, that is, in all the households that had tween and teen girls. Critical reviews of the
record were mixed. But its intended audience was not nearly as split in their opinion,
as they bought enough copies of the record that it was certified triple platinum.
The runaway success of Aaron's Party helped Carter land a string of guest roles on several
Disney and Nickelodeon series. One of the most memorable of these appearances was on
Lizzie McGuire. In the episode, Hilary Duff's character has a 30-second run-in with Carter,
and the two kiss under some mistletoe. This would
not be the only time the teenage icons would meet, but it was the first.
Having proven his acting chops on series like Lizzie McGuire and Sabrina the Teenage Witch,
Aaron Carter found that more highbrow productions were now interested in him. In 2001,
it was announced that Carter would be joining the cast of Broadway's Seussical for a five-week run.
After wrapping up that project, Carter went back into the studio and completed his third album,
Oh Aaron, which is most notable for its title track, a duet with Aaron's
brother Nick Carter from Backstreet Boys. The record wasn't as successful as Aaron's Party,
but it still managed to sell over a million copies. The following year, he released his
fourth album Another Earthquake!, which, by all accounts, was his least successful album.
Carter capped off this season of his career by starring in the feature film, Popstar. Much like
Britney Spears' Crossroads, the film had been written expressly with the intention of helping
Carter to be taken more seriously as an actor. The direct-to-video project mirrors Carter's own life
and follows a high school girl who discovers that the new kid in town, who she's crushing on, is
actually a pop star. Again, much like Crossroads, Popstar was a critical and commercial failure.
Perhaps all that drama surrounding his love life is what inspired Aaron Carter to take his
career in a new direction in the mid-2000s. After releasing his fourth album, he took a break from
music, shifting his focus to reality TV. In 2006, House of Carters hit the airwaves. The premise
was simple: All five Carter siblings — Nick, BJ, Leslie, Aaron, and Angel — would move into
one house in order to try and work through their issues. The series only lasted a single season,
but the drama that came out of it was enough to sever some of those relationships for good.
Next, Carter appeared on Dancing with the Stars where he placed a respectable fifth.
After the dance show, he tried his hand at another competition, this time cooking on Rachel vs. Guy:
Celebrity Cook-Off. Unfortunately for him, he was a much better dancer than a chef.
In 2011, Aaron Carter shocked fans by checking into a rehab center. It wasn't the first time
potential addictions had been brought up — folks had been speculating for years due to
his changed appearance and dramatic weight loss — but it was the first time Carter,
or anyone in his camp, admitted that something more serious was actually
going on. Speaking to People magazine, Carter's manager, Johnny Wright, said:
"[Aaron] has chosen to enter a facility where he feels he will get the guidance
and cleansing he needs. Which in turn will help him on the music journey he's about to take."
"I definitely felt like I hit a rock bottom personally."
This stint in rehab wouldn't be the only time Carter sought help for his addiction issues.
In total, he entered five programs before his death in 2022. His last stint in rehab appeared
to be in September 2022, when he checked into Lionrock Recovery. According to an interview he
gave to The U.S. Sun, Carter entered rehab in 2022 not because he had relapsed — but
because he wanted help dealing with some of his triggers in order to avoid a relapse.
Fans who had followed Aaron Carter's career from its early days were often shocked by his
appearance as an adult. He dropped a significant amount of weight beginning in his early 20s,
and simply looked less vibrant in a way that had many worried about him.
"I just get made fun of a lot for how I look."
"How do you look?"
"I'm gaunt and I'm skinny."
Finally, in 2017, he began to open up about some of his health struggles on The Doctors. On
the show, Carter revealed that he didn't have any serious illnesses, but that he was struggling with
addiction. In one drug panel that he allowed to be read out, testing showed that he had marijuana,
benzodiazepines, opiates, and hydrocodone in his system. Those medications in the
combinations and quantities that he was taking have been known to cause deadly overdoses.
On another episode of the series, Carter revealed that he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder,
schizophrenia, manic depression, and anxiety. He attributed some of his addictions to these
mental health issues, saying that he first got hooked on many of the medications that had been
found in his system after being prescribed them for the treatment of these illnesses.
While opening up about his struggles on such a major stage couldn't have been easy,
there was one silver lining in it all — Carter checked into a rehab center in Malibu,
got his life back on track, and entered perhaps the healthiest period of his adult life.
The Carter family is arguably just as famous for their interpersonal issues as they are for their
musical talent. Throughout Nick and Aaron Carter's time in the spotlight, familial drama followed
them. But things really came to a head in 2019 when Aaron alleged that several of his siblings
had abused him. In a series of tweets, the singer alleged that he was sexually abused by his sister
Leslie as well as backup dancers, all when he was a child. He also accused Nick of abusing him.
Aaron Carter's claims came just days after the brother in question filed
a restraining order against him. Nick Carter explained
in a tweet why he felt such drastic measures were necessary. He wrote:
"In light of Aaron's increasingly alarming behavior and his recent confession that he
harbors thoughts and intentions of killing my pregnant wife and unborn child, we were
left with no choice but to take every measure possible to protect ourselves and our family."
Aaron vehemently denied having ever made such threats. As far as we know,
the family was still estranged when Aaron died. Given the tragic nature of the entire situation,
it's unlikely that we'll ever really know what happened behind closed doors. We can
only hope all members of the Carter family were able to make
peace with whatever traumas they endured. Aaron Carter had a tumultuous dating history
over the years. It seems that finding love never came easily to the singer.
"I like being in relationships. I like being in love."
In 2006, Carter proposed to former Playboy model Kari Ann Peniche just five days after meeting
her. She accepted, but, unsurprisingly perhaps, their relationship didn't last
and they called off the engagement just six days later. Then there was Madison Parker,
who left Carter when he came out as bisexual, because, as a source told Us Weekly,
she wasn't really supportive of his sexuality and didn't understand it. Next, there was model Lina
Valentina, who Carter was granted a restraining order against after she threatened to stab him.
However, things seem to have taken somewhat of a turn when Carter met his last love,
Melanie Martin — but their relationship wasn't all rainbows and butterflies. The pair dated on and
off for three years, weathered domestic violence complaints, got engaged in 2020, and ended things
in early 2022. However, their relationship also brought Carter his only child, son Prince Carter,
who was born in 2021. In a tribute post on her Instagram following Aaron's death, Martin wrote,
"My life won't ever be the same without you in it. You brought so much joy into my life
despite our troubles ... We were in this for life. I'll never stop loving you or missing you."
On November 5, 2022, TMZ reported that Aaron Carter had been found dead in his California
home. He was only 34. As of November 22, 2022, no official cause of death has been reported,
though many theorize his unexpected passing may have something to do with his addiction
battles. Whatever the cause, we can certainly say that Carter's was a life that ended too
soon. He left behind various family members, including his 1-year-old son and older brother,
Nick Carter. On Instagram, Aaron's sister, Angel, wrote in part,
"To my twin ... I loved you beyond measure. You will be missed dearly. My funny, sweet Aaron,
I have so many memories of you and I promise to cherish them. I know you're at peace now."
Meanwhile, Nick wrote on Instagram, in part,
"My heart is broken. Even though my brother and I have had a complicated relationship,
my love for him has never ever faded [...] addiction and mental illness is the real villain
here. I love you Chizz. Now you can finally have the peace you could never find here on earth ..."
In the month before his death, Aaron worked on the pilot for a sitcom titled Group. Despite
his death, the project will go on, with the writer-director of Group telling Deadline,
"Aaron was so excited about the show and helping raise awareness for mental health,
a topic he was very passionate about [...] He said
being a part of the show gave him something positive to work toward."
If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues,
help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).