CNN
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Aaron Carter, a former pop singer and younger brother of Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys, has died, a source close to the family told CNN. He was 34.
A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department told CNN that they responded to a call for help at Carter’s Lancaster, California home on Saturday morning around 11 a.m. local time, where a person was found dead in scene.
He was found dead in his bathtub, the source said.
Authorities did not release any information about the possible cause of death.
Carter, who first rose to fame as a boy with pop hits like “I Want Candy” and “Crush on You,” is survived by his 11-month-old son, Prince.
The singer’s debut studio album, Aaron Carter, was released in 1997, and he opened for the Backstreet Boys earlier that year. His fifth and final studio album, Love, was released in 2018.
Carter was also known for his roles in television shows such as “Lizzie McGuire” on the Disney Channel and “7th Heaven,” which debuted on the WB Television Network. He also appeared in his family’s reality series on E! Entertainment TV, House of Carters.
The singer received an outpouring of love and support from fans and other celebrities in 2017 after coming out as bisexual.
“There’s something I’d like to say that I feel is important to myself and my identity that has been weighing on my chest for nearly half my life,” Carter tweeted. “It brings me no shame, just a weight and burden I’ve carried for a long time that I wish would be lifted from me.”
He then explained that around the age of 13 he “started to find boys and girls attractive”.
“I’ve been thinking about it for years, but it wasn’t until I was 17, after several relationships with girls, that I had an experience with a man that I liked too. I worked and grew up with them.”
The singer opened up in a 2019 episode of The Doctors about his battle with multiple mental health issues, including multiple personality disorder, schizophrenia, acute anxiety and manic depression.
“This is my reality,” Carter said while holding a plastic bag with multiple prescription bottles in a clip posted to the show’s Facebook page.
In 2017, Carter was arrested in Georgia on suspicion of driving under the influence and possession of marijuana while he and then-girlfriend Madison Parker were driving through Habersham County.
The singer later said in an interview that he doesn’t drink and denied having a drug problem, CNN previously reported.
“I don’t need help,” he said. “What I need is for people to understand that I am human and that I make mistakes like everyone else in this world, but I would never risk my life or my girlfriend’s.”
