Aaron Carter: How a succesful child star went on to become a prime example of all that's wrong with Hollywood
Aaron Carter has made a name for himself in the last few years as one of the most controversial celebrities to stir up all kinds of drama. In the latest news, the former pop-star was seen brandishing aface tattoo of his girlfriend's name, just before she was arrested on charges of domestic violence on March 29. Apropos to what he may seem like now, Carter was once a sought-after artist, with a successful music and acting career.
Aaron Carter grew up a much-beloved child star, who had wormed his way into the hearts of young Americans with his boyish charm in the 1990s. He'd managed to make a career out of his musical talent and feature in popular teen shows on Disney and Nickelodeon. At age 10 Carter had established himself as among the famous pop stars in the music industry. But by the late 2000s, things had started to fall apart for him.
Early life and musical career
Carter had a musical upbringing, seeing that it ran in his family. The youngest among 5 siblings (one being his twin sister), Carter was only seven years old when he began performing. He was a natural on stage like he was born to perform. But his first official performance that pushed him to stardom was his opening act for the Backstreet Boys' gig in Berlin, in 1997, when he was just 10. Band member Nick Carter is his older brother. Carter's appearance at the concert landed home a record deal and a couple of months later he released his debut single 'Crush on You.'
Eventually, Carter gained international recognition, and his catchy pop tunes garnered him a fandom comprising of mostly teenagers. Subsequently, he released two albums which included the singles 'I Want Candy', and 'Aaron's Party (Come and Get It)'. He went on to tour with the likes of Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys. At age 13, in 2001 he released his third album 'Oh Aaron', which featured a duet with his brother. The song became a huge hit and went platinum. Over the span of the next few years, he continued to release albums and dated a string of famous celebrities including Hillary Duff and Lindsay Lohan.
His music career started to give out on him in the latter part of the 2000s, and he miserably failed at reviving it to its former glory. His parents' divorce in 2003 had a huge impact on him - triggering his depression and some misbehaviour in his early days.
In 2006, Carter and his family starred in their own reality show, 'House of Carters' on E!. Carter's focus has always been on making music, and he did work hard throughout the years that he actively produced music, but the lucrative deals began to decline when he sailed into his early 20s.
Trouble with the law, rehab and sister's death
His first encounter with the law was in 2008 when he was pulled over by the police for speeding over the limit, and retrieved marijuana from his car. In 2009, he appeared on the reality dance show, 'Dancing with the Stars,' a sign that he was possibly getting his life back together since the mishap. However, that didn't essentially mean new record deals to restart his career.
Carter shocked the world when he checked himself into rehab for the first time in 2011, hinting at the start of the singer's struggles, but his representatives passed it off as him dealing with "emotional and spiritual issues". A month later he was back, appearing in an Off-Broadway play and also working on his music.
In 2012, his sister, Leslie, 25, died of a drug overdose and the shock over her sudden death messed him up to a certain degree. The tragedy also caused some rifts within the family, especially between the two Carter brother, after Nick absented himself from Leslie's funeral.
Aaron was arrested on suspicions of a DUI and marijuana possession, in 2017. The arrest stirred drama between him and his now-estranged older brother, Nick, after the latter offered support on Twitter, following his arrest.
Confession of a drug problem and deteriorating mental health
Later that year, Carter checked into rehab again and came out as bisexual. He also went public about his drinking and drug problems in an unfiltered interview with E! He appeared on the chat show, 'The Doctors', where he made an emotional confession of becoming addicted to drugs and cosmetic surgery. Further, he explained he took a copious amount of prescription pills to "release the stress of pain or angst", and denied doing hard drugs.
In 2019, the former pop star made his second appearance on 'The Doctors', where he opened up about his mental health struggles and divulged that he had been diagnosed with multiple personality disorder, acute anxiety and schizophrenia. He revealed on the show that he was in a terrible place and the drug addiction had almost killed him, but he'd managed to turn his life around.
"I was abusing medications. 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'," he added.
Family Feud
Aaron and Nick Carter made headlines in 2019, proving to the public that the Carter clan had, in fact, drifted apart and bore hostile feeling towards each other. Nick accused his younger brother of harbouring thoughts of killing his pregnant wife, Lauren, and filed for a restraining order to keep him away from his family
In a post on Twitter, Nick wrote: "After careful consideration, my sister Angel and I regret that we were required to seek a restraining order against our brother Aaron today. In light of Aaron's increasingly alarming behaviour and his recent confessions that he harbours 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."
Consequently, his twin sister, Angel Carter also filed a restraining order against him. With regard to the order, the court asked him to surrender the firearms in his possession because he was deemed "too dangerous" to own a gun.
In response to the restraining order, which he acknowledged, Carter tweeted, "I am astounded at the accusations being made against me and I do not wish harm to anyone, especially my family." He also insisted that he had "sold off his guns."
2019 might have been annus horribilis for the 32-year-old, but 2020 saw him turning a new leaf. He seemed to have found true love in his current girlfriend Melanie Martin. In a social media post in late February, Carter wrote: “You’ve shown me a love that I never thought existed."
He also shared with his fans that his lady love has moved in with him as they both have the same goals in life. “I’m just showing her a different side of love that I myself am not accustomed to.”