Aaron Carter Is Found Dead at 34

Singer-turned-rapper and Nickelodeon star Aaron Carter, 34, was found dead in his bathtub Saturday in Lancaster, California, TMZ reports. Sources told the outlet Carter had drowned, and no foul play is suspected.

Carter, the younger brother of the Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter, has been open about his struggles with addiction and mental illness. In 2017, after a DUI arrest, he opened up about his gaunt appearance, saying he’d been suffering from an eating disorder for 10 years caused by a hiatal hernia. He denied at the time that he was using drugs and said it hurt that people made assumptions based on his weight:

“How would you feel every two seconds, seeing a tweet, ‘You have AIDS. Go die. Oh, look at this meth head. Oh, meth kills. Crack kills.’ It’s body shaming and it’s the toughest thing to deal with.”

In 2019, the “I Want Candy” singer revealed on The Doctors that he’d been diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, manic depression, and anxiety. He held up a bag of prescription pill bottles he’d been prescribed and admitted to having used opioids after a dental procedure. He was also reportedly suicidal that same year after breaking up with his girlfriend, Lina Valentina, to the extent that cops had to do a welfare check on him, TMZ reported at the time.

Carter started performing when he was just 9 years old, eventually transitioning from pop music to rap. He sold millions of albums, competed on Dancing with the Stars in 2009, appeared on the show Lizzie Maguire, toured with his brother’s iconic band, and starred in the Broadway show Seussical, among other career highlights. He is survived by his nearly one-year-old son, Prince, whom he shared with his ex-fiancée, Melanie Martin.