Aaron Carter’s team spoke out about how they plan to honor the late singer — and the actions they took to try and rehabilitate him before his death.
“We are glad this case is finally closed so we can have a celebration of life and send him off to rest,” Holly Davidson of ICT PR, a rep for Carter, told Us Weekly on Wednesday, April 19. “Our team actively tried to implement a plan to rehabilitate a recovery to health, however, due to outside influences and triggering dysfunctional relationships, these circumstances made it a challenge.”
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner confirmed in their coroner’s report, which was obtained by Us on Tuesday, April 18, that the “I Want Candy” artist drowned in a bathtub due to the effects of difluoroethane and alprazolam. Per the report, difluoroethane is a component common in spray cleaners and is known to lead to cardiac issues. Alprazolam, meanwhile, is a benzodiazepine that can cause drowsiness and sedation. His death was ruled an accident.
“Mr. Carter became incapacitated while in the bathtub due to the effects of inhaling compressed gas and taking alprazolam,” the documents read. “This resulted in him becoming submerged under water, unable to breath [sic], and ultimately led to his death.”
The former child star died at age 34 in November 2022. At the time, Carter was found unresponsive in his California home, where he was later pronounced dead. He is survived by his 12-month-old son, Prince, whom he shares with ex-fiancée Melanie Martin.
Shortly after the news of his passing made headlines, Martin, 30, reflected on her connection with Aaron through the years. “Goodnight to my soulmate love of my life. RIP 💔,” she wrote via her Instagram Story. “Tonight I imagine myself laying on your tattoo chest as I fall asleep on yours I did for 3 years.”
After his cause of death was revealed on Tuesday, the model spoke out about the ruling and shared that she still last questions regarding the circumstances of his death. “The results of the autopsy are not closure for me,” she told TMZ at the time, adding that she is “still in shock” over Carter’s passing.
“[I] still miss Aaron every day,” she said. “I don’t understand the chain of events and this report only has us asking more questions.”
The “Aaron’s Party” artist and Martin dated on and off for three years and were briefly engaged before calling it quits in February 2022. In January, the Bulgaria native opened up to Us about how much she tried to help him during their relationship as he struggled with mental health issues and substance abuse.
“I tried to get him help and he did want help. There were moments of him saying I want to do better and I’m not this person, but he would change his mind within moments,” the Love & Lashes By Melanie founder told Us. “He was a good person and a good dad, but he had a lot of sadness in his heart from his life. He went from moments of being happy, but it was so hard to keep him happy all the time. I couldn’t do it alone. One person can’t make someone happy. He had things missing in his life that I could not fulfill.”
The “That’s How I Beat Shaq” rapper had been candid about his struggles throughout the years. During a 2019 episode of The Doctors, he revealed that his “official diagnosis” was “multiple personality disorder [dissociative identity disorder], schizophrenia, acute anxiety and manic depression.” He also admitted that he was addicted to huffing.
“I was huffing because I was really f—king stupid and sad, but this is really no excuse,” he shared. “I was huffing because I’m a drug addict.”
