Singer and Actor and former Dancing with the Stars contestant Aaron Carter is dead at age 34.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department told TMZ that Aaron’s house sitter found his body in the bathtub in his Lancaster, Calif. home and called authorities. Law enforcement sources told TMZ they received a 911 call at 11 AM Saturday that a male had drowned in the tub.
Homicide detectives had been dispatched to the scene, but so far, there is no information or evidence of foul play.
Aaron’s fiancé, Melanie Martin, told TMZ: “My fiancé Aaron Carter has passed away. I love Aaron with all my heart and it’s going to be a journey to raise a son without a father. Please respect the privacy of my family as we come to terms with the loss of someone we love greatly. We are still in the process of accepting this unfortunate reality. Your thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated.”
Aaron competed on Dancing with the Stars in 2009
Aaron competed on Dancing with the Stars season 9 in 2009 coming in 5th place with pro partner Karina Smirnoff.
His career began at the age of 9. He released his self-titled debut album at the age of 10. In 2000, he released his second album, Aaron’s Party (Come Get It), which included hits like the title track, “That’s How I Beat Shaq” and his cover of The Strangeloves’ “I Want Candy.”
Prior to embarking on his first solo tour in 2000, he opened on tour for his older brother Nick Carter’s band, The Backstreet Boys and for Britney Spears.
Eventually, he tried acting, appearing on shows such as Lizzie McGuire, Sabrina the Teenaged Witch, 7th Heaven and movies like Fat Albert, Popstar and Supercross.
He and his brother Nick got into a fistfight
In 2006, Aaron and brother Nick engaged in a fistfight before the premiere of their E! reality show, House of Carters, which also featured their parents and other three siblings, Bobbie Jean, Leslie (who died of an overdose at the age of 25 in 2012) and Angel.
In the last years of his life, Aaron was beset by legal and substance abuse problems. He also battled an eating disorder.
In 2008, police in Texas pulled Aaron over for speeding and arrested him after finding more than two ounces of marijuana in his vehicle.
A trip to Betty Ford Center, and bankruptcy
By January 2011, Aaron checked into the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif., “to heal some emotional and spiritual issues he was dealing with,” his manager Johnny Wright said. He competed a month-long stay.
In late 2013, Aaron filed a bankruptcy petition to cover more than $3.5 million worth of debt, including $30,000 worth of credit card bills.
In May 2017 more bad news as the Carter patriarch Bob died of a heart attack. Soon after, Aaron was pulled over again in Habersham County, Georgia, and charged with driving under the influence, possession of less than one ounce of marijuana and possession of drug-related objects.
In 2017, Carter checked into rehab following a number of police welfare checks at his Florida home. “Only I can change my life,” Carter Tweeted as news broke. “No one can do it for me.”
A controversial appearance on The Doctors
On a September 2019 episode of The Doctors, Aaron shared his mental health struggles. “The official diagnosis is that I suffer from multiple personality disorder, schizophrenia, acute anxiety; I’m manic depressive,” he said. “I’m prescribed to Xanax, Seroquel, gabapentin, hydroxyzine, trazodone, omeprazole.”
During part two of his appearance on The Doctors, Carter shared for the first time that he was addicted to huffing, introduced to him by his late sister
“Started when I was about 16,” he said, claiming that he “didn’t really touch it until I was about 23, right after I did Dancing with the Stars. And I started going to Staples and Office Depot, and different places, buying it with cash, so it wouldn’t be reported on receipts or anything like that, so no one could trace me.”
Nick Carter filed a restraining order against Aaron
The same month as Aaron’s Doctors appearance, Nick tweeted that he and his sister Angel had filed a restraining order against him, claiming that he had threatened to kill Nick’s “pregnant wife and unborn child.”
“After careful consideration, my sister Angel and I regret that we were required to seek a restraining order against our brother Aaron today,” he wrote. “We were left with no choice, but to take every measure possible to protect ourselves and our family.”
Nick shared that he still loved Aaron and hoped “he gets the proper treatment he needs before any harm comes to himself or anyone else.”
In January of 2020 Aaron got engaged to Melanie Martin. The couple split one week after the birth of their son Prince in November 2021, they reconciled by that December. Then, in February 2022, they called it quits once again.
