Aaron Carter, who rose to fame as a teen pop star, has died at the age of 34.
The brother of Backstreet Boy Nick Carter was found dead at his Lancaster, California home on Saturday. The cause of the singer and actor’s death has not been made public.
A spokesperson for the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that officers responded to a call at Carter’s home on Saturday. A representative for Big Umbrella Management confirmed the singer’s death.
Carter reportedly struggled with mental health, addiction, and legal issues in recent years. His brother, Nick, and twin sister Angel filed a restraining order against him in 2019, claiming Aaron had confessed to violent thoughts about family members.
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“Even though my brother and I have had a complicated relationship, my love for him has never ever faded,” Nick Carter said in a statement following Aaron’s death. “Addiction and mental illness is the real villain here. I will miss my brother more than anyone will ever know.”
In 2017, Carter tweeted about finding both boys and girls attractive as a teen.
“This doesn’t bring me shame, just a weight and burden I have held onto for a long time and would like lifted off of me,” he wrote in the since-deleted tweet. “I grew up in this entertainment industry at a very young age and when I was around 13-years-old I started to find boys and girls attractive. There were years that went by that I thought about it, but it wasn’t until I was 17-years-old, after a few relationships with girls, I had an experience with a male that I had an attraction to who I also worked with and grew up with.”
Many interpreted this as Carter coming out as bisexual. He went on to repeatedly describe himself as bisexual during media appearances and performances.
But in 2018, Carter said that his statement was misconstrued. Asked whether he was open to a relationship with another man, Carter responded, “Yeah, no.”
“It was more so just a story that happened when I was like 17 with somebody,” he explained, “and I can find men and women attractive, but when it comes down to it, I think it was a little misconstrued. I see myself being with a woman and having kids. I want to have a family.”
