New York Aaron Cartera singer and actor who became a teenage sensation in the early 2000s and happened to be best known for the hit song I Want Candy drowned in her bathtub on Nov. 5 after taking sedatives and inhaling a cleaning spray, the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office announced Tuesday.
According to a police report included in the coroner’s file, Carter, who was 34 when he died, was last seen alive by law enforcement officers who visited his home around 2:00 a.m. on the November wellness check, after Carter had been seen “snorting”. an inhalant in an Instagram live video, the Associated Press reported.
Carter had asked authorities to leave, and they did, according to the police report obtained by the AP.
The next day, according to the police report, a maid who heard Carter’s dogs barking and received no answer from him entered his home. She found Carter, wearing a Tshirt and necklace, submerged in the Jacuzzi tub with the jets running and called 911, according to the report. The operator told the housekeeper to get Carter out of the tub and do CPR. Paramedics pronounced him dead immediately upon arrival, police said.
Nick Carter, left, with brother Aaron Carter Photo: Fred Prouser/Portal
The Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office said in a report released Tuesday that the Aaron Carter’s death it was caused by “drowning” and “exposure to difluoroethane and alprazolam.” Alprazolam is a generic version of the anxiety drug Xanax, and difluoroethane is a gas commonly used in aerosol cleaners that can induce feelings of euphoria when inhaled.
The coroner’s office did not immediately respond to requests for more information Tuesday night.
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Teen heartthrob and brother to Nick Carter
Carter, described in The New York Times in 2004 as a “teenage heartthrob,” began performing at age 7, according to an online biography, and sang for the band Dead End for two years. At the age of 9 he opened for the Backstreet Boys in Berlin, his first solo performance. The performance led to a record deal and then the release of their first single, Crush on You. He also opened for Britney Spears.
At age 12, he released the popular album Aaron’s Party (Come Get It), which peaked at number 4 on the Billboard 200 chart in 2003 and sold an estimated 3 million copies. Carter became a staple in teen magazines and has gueststarred on shows such as Lizzie McGuire. He has released five studio albums and has performed on Dancing With the Stars.
But Carter’s career later faltered, and in recent years he’s been mired in legal trouble. He also shared his struggles with addiction. In 2018, he released his first album in about 15 years, Love, to lukewarm reviews.
According to the police report cited by the AP, Carter had a “known history of substance abuse,” including inhalants, which led to multiple interactions with police. According to the report, investigators found several medicine bottles and canisters from an electric duster he used to inhale.
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At the time of Carter’s death, Nick Carterhis older brother, and a member of the Backstreet Boys, said in a statement that although he and his brother did a “complicated” relationshipHer love for him “never faded”.
He added, “Addiction and mental illness are the real villains here. I will miss my brother more than anyone will ever know.”