Aaron Carter, Disney Star Dead at 34, Led Troubled Life of Grief, Addictions, and Mental Illness

Former Disney Channel star Aaron Carter was found dead in his home on Saturday morning, but some say he led a troubled life beginning at a very young age.

Carter began performing when he was only seven years old, and in 1997, he released his first self-titled debut album when he was only nine years old, selling more than 1 million copies globally. His second album, titled “Aaron’s Party,” released in 2000, sold more than 3 million copies. Shortly thereafter, he began making guest appearances on Nickelodeon and Disney Channel, eventually securing a recurring role on Disney Channel’s Lizzie McGuire.

But by the late 2000s, things began to take a turn for Carter–a turn for the worse.

Carter had his first brush with the law in 2008, when he was only 21 years old. He was pulled over by police speeding, and officers found marijuana in his vehicle. A year later, in 2009, Carter made an appearance on ABC’s Dancing With the Stars, and fans took that as a sign that Carter had gotten his life back on track. Perhaps his encounter with the law a year earlier was an isolated incident of poor judgment.

Two years later, however, in 2011, Carter’s fans were shocked and concerned when the singer checked himself into rehab for the first time. But several weeks later, he was back in the limelight, performing in an off-Broadway play and continuing work on his musical career.

In 2012, though, Carter suffered a devastating blow when his sister, Leslie, died of a drug overdose at the age of 25. Leslie’s death put stress on the family, ultimately creating rifts between members of the family, especially between Aaron and his older brother, BackStreet Boys member Nick Carter, after Nick was absent at their sister’s funeral.

In 2017, Aaron Carter was arrested by officers on suspicions of driving under the influence of alcohol and marijuana possession. More dissension between Aaron and his older brother ensued following the arrest after Nick took to Twitter to offer his support of Aaron.

Later that year, Carter again checked into rehab and went public about his problems with drugs and alcohol in a raw interview on E!. He appeared on a show called The Doctors and confessed to an addiction with drugs and cosmetic surgery. While he denied using hard drugs, he said that he took a “copious amount” of prescription drugs to “release the stress of pain or angst.”

Later in 2019, he appeared on The Doctors once again, this time divulging that he had been diagnosed with several psychiatric conditions, including multiple personality disorder, acute anxiety, and schizophrenia. Carter said he had been in a bad place with a drug addiction that threatened to take his life, but that he had managed to turn his life around.

“I was abusing medications,” Carter said. “I was in a toxic relationship. I was in complete denial. I was so into the addiction, I was just like, ‘I’m just going to let myself die.'”

At the conclusion of that interview, surely no one could have guessed that Carter would be dead only three years later. The actor and singer was found dead in a bathtub at his Lancaster, California, home on Saturday morning, and no details about his death or cause of death has been released at this time.

Though he led a life punctuated by troubles and addictions, Carter was once a sought-after artist, making a way for himself with both a successful music career and successful acting career.

Our thoughts and prayers are with those who loved him during this difficult time.