Aaron Carter's cause of death revealed 5 months after singer's death
Five months after his death, '90s pop star Aaron Carter was confirmed to have died of accidental drowning after taking drugs.
According to the autopsy results released by the Los Angeles Country Medical Examiner-Coroner on April 18, Carter drowned in his bathtub after taking alprazolam, a drug used to treat anxiety and distributed under the brand name Xanax. This is in addition to inhaling difluoroethane, which the report says is “a gas commonly used as a propellant in air spray cleaners,” which “can induce feelings of euphoria when inhaled."
The results, first reported by TMZ, state that the drugs and huffing made him "incapacitated while in the bathtub," which then led to his drowning. A housekeeper found him dead and submerged in the tub on Nov. 5.
An autopsy was performed the next day, but results were withheld for toxicology tests which, according to an AP report, often take months.
Meanwhile, authorities found cans of compressed air in Carter's bathroom and bedroom, with a nozzle tip seen in the front pocket of his sweatshirt at the location of his death. Several prescription bottles were also found in his home.
At the time of his death, Carter's family claimed that the cause of his demise is drug overdose and not drowning in the bathtub. This comes after his fiancé, Melanie Martin, discovered a text exchange on Carter's phone, revealing that he owed someone $500 for an unknown substance.
His mother Jane, on the other hand, speculated that there was foul play involved based on the greenish tint of the water where Carter's body was submerged for several hours, as well as the towels and contaminated water scattered on the bathroom floor at the time his body was found. Photos of these were posted by Jane online in a move that she said was fully supported by their family.
Carter began his career performing on opening acts for the hit boy band Backstreet Boys, which his older brother Nick is a part of. He released his self-titled album in 1997 at the age of nine and sold more than a million copies of it worldwide. Three years later, he released his second album, Aaron's Party (Come Get It) which went triple platinum.
He made a name for himself and became a heartthrob in his teenage years, but stuggled with substance abuse and drug addition throughout his life.
In 2019, he revealed that he was suffering from mental disorders such as “multiple personality disorder, schizophrenia, acute anxiety, and manic depression” on the TV program The Doctors.
The singer also faced many legal battles and controversies involving his family.
Carter began dating Martin in early 2020 and got engaged to her in June of that year. Their on-again, off-again relationship blossomed into a baby boy Prince in November 2021. A month after, Carter announced on Twitter that he and Melanie called off their engagement.
A month before his demise, Carter put his home up for sale for $779,900 (P42.4 million) or almost double his purchase price in 2019. It is now being sold by real estate brokerage company Berkshire Hathaway for $850,000, or P46 million, with renovations being made on the bathroom where the pop star was found dead.