The life and death of Aaron Carter: How once fresh-faced star ended up in 'trainwreck' battle
UPDATE: Aaron Carter, 34, was found dead in the bathtub of his California home in Lancaster.
Erasing his dark past, Aaron Carter has started a new bright, and sober life but his past is not ready to leave him. Talking about being labeled as a ‘trainwreck,' the sensational singer finally spoke out about being portrayed as a drug addict despite living sober life for the past 5 years.
The American rapper, 34, talked about his recovery being ignored by the public in an interview with DailyMail. In the conversation, he also revealed his fury about being viewed as a ‘trainwreck.' The heartthrob who rose to fame with his early success as a child star in the late 1990s and early 2000s also talked about his messed-up relationships with his brother former Backstreet Boys star Nick, 42, and the mother of his young son.
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The star said he is now turning his life around for the better and set to make his musical comeback with a tour that is garnering 'millions of dollars.' "I realized that I was killing myself and everything was being destroyed around me from it," Carter told DailyMail.
"I was lying to the world and myself. Everybody deserves a second chance. I have not committed any crazy crimes. I am not how some people try to paint me. If somebody wants to call me a train wreck, well I've been a train that's been wrecked multiple times and derailed by many different things. But I rebuild, get on the tracks and keep going," he added.
After garnering early fame, Carter found himself drowning in the sea of drug addiction while transiting to adulthood but then reality struck him hard when he ended up being broke with a whopping $7.8 million tax bill. The singer has previously revealed that his sister Leslie, who died from an overdose in 2012, was the one who pushed him "in the hell of a drug."
Today, Carter insists the public stop viewing him as a washed-up drug addict as he has no opiate issues, has quit smoking weed and is not an excessive alcohol drinker. He added that currently his life may be messed up but there are "so many reasons to be here, to live," that keep him motivated in fighting his addiction.
Despite his battles with substance abuse and legal troubles documented in the media over the years, Carter is adamant that he is "not a victim, but a soldier," and admits he resents his public image as a troubled former star.
Further in the interview, Carter questioned why Demi Lovato’s recovery from an overdose has been celebrated while the public completely ignored his ‘success story.' "Of course, if Demi Lovato accidentally overdoses on opiates, then the next day she is on the cover of Women's Fitness," he said.
"The media doesn't want to treat me like that. They want to villainize me. I am coming up on five years of being clean and the media doesn't pay as much attention to it as they should, because I am the living testament to 'you can do it. There is a lot of things I have to change,'" he added.
He admitted that his struggle of cleaning up his public image has helped him learn the art of blocking criticism and negativity. "I am 35 this year and this is one of the biggest growth learning lessons years I've ever had. I am getting off social media, not paying attention to negativity," he said.
"If someone truly thinks I am down and out, you don't kick them when you are down. I am done letting it happen. I am not going to let the world push me around like that no more."
Carter, who is enjoying a sold-out nationwide tour, said, "Even to this day there are questions as to why I was destroying my life. I do not have the answers, but the one thing I do have is the ability to survive and the brains and means to do so."