They were teen idols together in the early 2000s, but now, Lindsay Lohan had to say goodbye to one of her first loves. On Nov. 5, Aaron Carter, pop star and younger brother of Backstreet Boy star Nick Carter, passed away at the age of 34. Aaron and Lindsay dated briefly in the early 2000s, and Lindsay, 36, remembered Aaron as someone who was an important part of her past. “So many (memories) from when I was so young, just that era of my life … and my prayers go out to his family, and may he rest in peace, and God bless,” Lindsay said while speaking with Kit Hoover of Access Hollywood.
Lindsay was promoting her new Netflix holiday movie, Falling For Christmas when Kit asked about her reaction to Aaron’s untimely passing. Lindsay shared her sadness but noted that it had been a “long time” since she and Aaron spoke.
The singer and actor, known best for his early musical career with hits like “Aaron’s Party,” was found dead in his bathroom in Lancaster, CA. A 911 call was received, explaining that he had drowned in the bathtub.
Lindsay and Aaron were linked in 2002 in what, at the time, was a teen scandal. Aaron had been seriously dating another teen idol at the time, Hilary Duff, when the story goes, he dumped her for Lindsay. “I was dating [Hilary] for like a year and a half, and then I just got a little bored, so I went, and I started getting to know Lindsay,” Aaron said in 2005, per Us Weekly. This got messy when Aaron started dating Hilary again in 2003, but the second-chance romance did not last long.
Hilary, 35, issued a statement on Aaron’s death. “For Aaron- I’m deeply sorry that life was so hard for you and that you had to struggle in-front of the whole world. You had a charm that was absolutely effervescent…boy did my teenage self love you deeply. Sending love to your family at this time. Rest easy,” Hilary wrote on Instagram.
At the time of his death, both Lindsay and Aaron had more than put their young romance behind them. Lindsay married Bader Shammas in the summer of 2022, and Aaron was dealing with an on-off relationship with Melanie Martin, who was reportedly on the scene at the time of his death. The pair welcomed their first child in last year, with Aaron dying only 17 days before his kid’s 1st birthday.