Who is Aaron Carter? Net Worth, Wife, Sibling, Life
As one of the most successful child stars of the early 2000s, it is understandable why there is interest in Aaron Carter’s net worth and how much money he made from his career before his sudden death. Carter, whose full name is Aaron Charles Carter, was born on December 7, 1987, in Tampa, Florida.
His older brother, Nick Carter, is a member of the boy band Backstreet Boys. Carter released his first single, “Crush on You,” from his debut album, Aaron Carter, in 1997. He released his second album, Aaron’s Party (Come Get It) , in 2000. The album, which featured hits like “Aaron’s Party (Come Get It)” and “I Want Candy,” sold over three million copies and is one of Carter’s most successful albums to date. Carter went on to release three more albums: Oh Aaron in 2001; Another Earthquake! in 2002; and Love in 2018 before his death in 2022.
Since his death, Carter’s death has been felt across Hollywood. Read on to find out what we know about Aaron Carter’s net worth at the time of his death and what he earned over the course of his decades-long career.
Aaron Carter Net Worth
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Aaron Carter‘s net worth was $400,000 at the time of his death. Carter stated in a 2016 interview with Oprah: Where Are They Now that his net worth was over $200 million when he was a teenager and at the height of his career.
In addition to what he has earned from his music career, Aaron Carter’s net worth also includes what he has earned from his acting career, which includes episodes of Lizzie Mcguire and Sabrina the Teenage Witch, in which he plays himself. Carter also played the character Harry in two 7th Heaven episodes. In addition to his television career, Carter also made his Broadway debut in 2001 as JoJo the Who in the Broadway musical Seussical. In 2011, he starred in an off-Broadway production of The Fantastics in New York City as Matt, one of the play’s leads.
Along with his acting career, Carter also had experience in reality television. He starred with his family—including siblings Nick, Leslie, Angel, and Bobbie Jean—in the eight-episode E! reality series House of Carters in 2008, for which Aaron Carter also served as executive producer. Carter was also a contestant on the ninth season of Dancing With the Stars in 2009, where he was partnered with professional dancer Karina Smirnoff and finished in fifth place. In October 2018, four years before his death, Carter purchased a three-bedroom, 2,686-square-foot home in Lancaster, California, for $430,000. He listed the home for $599,000 in July 2020.
In 2013, Carter filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in a Florida court. “The bulk of the debt he’s asking to be forgiven is from over 10 years ago, and that was when he was a minor and had no control over his financial situation,” his spokesman, Steve Honig, told The Hollywood Reporter at the time. “So this was a long-standing problem and he decided he needed to do something to move on with his life.” Honig explained that Carter decided to file for bankruptcy“because it was clear that it was the only way to resolve it.” Under Chapter 7 bankruptcy, Carter’s assets would be sold to pay off his debts. CNN reported at the time that Carter had accumulated at least $2 million in debt and had just $917 in his checking account and $60 in cash in his wallet at the time he filed for bankruptcy. CNN reported that his savings account contained just $5.
The filing also reported that Carter’s personal assets at the time included: a 61-inch flat-screen TV and his cellphone, both worth $500; a Breitling watch worth $3,750; clothing, two laptops, a guitar, and a Louis Vuitton backpack. CNN reported that his total value was $8,200. The filing also noted that, although Carter owned the copyrights to songs he wrote, such as “Saturday Night” and “One Better,” he did not receive any royalties from them. The bulk of Carter’s debt, according to the lawsuit, was owed to the Internal Revenue Service, where he owed $1.3 million in taxes on his earnings in 2003 when he was 16.
“He’s done a lot of things in the last few years to get his life together, he’s been sober for a while, he’s taking care of his finances,” Honig told The Hollywood Reporter at the time. Honig also told CNN, “This isn’t a negative thing. It’s actually a positive thing. He’s doing what he needs to do to move forward.” He continued, “A lot of the debt was over 10 years ago when he was a minor and didn’t have control of his finances. This happens to a lot of celebrities at a very early age.” According to Life & Style, Carter learned that his parents had mismanaged his finances and he owed more than $3.5 million in taxes shortly after his 18th birthday. The magazine reported that Carter’s parents were required to set aside 15% of his money in a bank account under the Coogan Act when he became an adult. When he turned 18, he received $2 million, an amount he believes should have been closer to $20 million. In a television interview in September 2017, he shared that I feel it is important for me to look at things that might be perceived as negative and use the power of positive thinking, and try to look at the glass as half full rather than half empty. “Maybe it will give me more strength to give advice to other people or go through an experience and be able to retreat or defend myself.” In a 2016 interview on Oprah: Where Are They Now, Carter gave an update on his finances three years after filing for bankruptcy. “I’m not broke. I mean, I’m not making all the money in the world right now, but I’m doing the best I can,” he said. “I’m doing a lot of shows and writing a lot of music. I’m rebuilding my life…No one knows what happened to me.
In the interview, Carter claimed he was worth more than his brother, Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter, when they were at the peak of their careers. “I didn’t take a break. I worked for my family for almost 10 years,” he said. “No disrespect to my brother, but when Nick was 18 and I was 10, I started making a lot of money. I made over $200 million in my career before I turned 18. We had a massive compound with about 12 houses on it. It was worth over $10 million and I paid a lot of money. I did a lot of work on it and I never got any interest back or anything like that… Even at this point, I’ve never owned my own house.”
Carter also believes that his bankruptcy was partly due to his parents’ financial “neglect” of him as a teenager. “My parents were very neglectful,” he said. “They didn’t do a lot of things right.” Still, he doesn’t blame his parents for what happened. “I was like, ‘I don’t want to do this because it’s embarrassing,’ and people would say, ‘Aaron Carter went bankrupt,’ and all this stuff,” Carter said of his hesitation to file for bankruptcy in 2013.
Did Aaron Carter Have a Will?
According to a November 2022 TMZ report, Carter did not have a will before his death, leaving the State of California to decide who would inherit his estate. Sources close to the Carter family told TMZ at the time that Carter was advised by his attorney to create a will after the birth of his son Prince with his on-again, off-again fiancée Melanie Martin in 2021.
TMZ also reported that Carter had been living at Martin’s mother’s house since September 2022 after the Los Angeles County Department of Children’s Services intervened in his relationship with his fiancé and asked Prince to leave their home.
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Who Inherits Aaron Carter’s Estate?
Carter’s representative confirmed on December 5, 2022, that Carter’s son Prince, who was one year old at the time of his death, will inherit the $550,000 estate. “In California, the order of inheritance — when one parent dies without a will — starts with the deceased parent’s children, followed by the surviving parents,” Carter’s rep told HollywoodLife. “Aaron’s mother Jane and his family have decided that his entire estate, worth approximately $550,000, will go to his son Prince. This is what Aaron wanted.”
TMZ also reported that Prince will likely inherit Carter’s home, which was up for sale at the time of his death, along with any proceeds from the sale. TMZ reported that the $550,000 includes both Carter’s real estate and personal assets, according to probate documents.
Aaron’s mother, Jane Carter, also told TMZ at the time that the family agreed that Prince would inherit Carter’s estate because they wanted to make sure the child was financially taken care of as he grew up. Carter’s twin sister, Angel Carter, filed in December 2022 to become the executor of Carter’s estate, at Jane’s request. Jane also told TMZ that she and Carter’s siblings have not yet met Prince because Melanie has custody, although they want to have a relationship with both of them.
“I don’t want any issues or tension with Aaron’s estate,” Melanie told Us Weekly in November 2022. I just want the Prince to be taken care of and I want Aaron’s legacy to live on. She continued, I don’t want to have any animosity with Aaron’s family. Anyone who wants to have Prince’s life can have Prince’s life.”
How much does Aaron Carter make from his music?
Carter launched into the music industry in 1997 with his first single, “Crush on You”, from his debut album, Aaron Carter. He was only nine years old at the time. The song peaked at number nine on the UK Singles Chart, while the album peaked at number 12 on the UK Official Albums Chart and went on to sell over a million copies worldwide.
Carter’s mainstream success came in 2000 when he released his second album, Aaron’s Party (Come Get It), which sold over three million copies worldwide and included hits like “Aaron’s Party (Come Get It),” “I Want Candy,” and “That’s How I Beat Shaq.” The album also peaked at number four on the Billboard 200, becoming Carter’s first album to reach the top five on the chart. Carter went on to release three more albums: Oh Aaron in 2001; Another Earthquake! in 2002; and Love in 2018. Love—stylized as LØVË—was Carter’s first album in over 15 years and his final release before his death in 2022.
In a 2019 interview with Red and Black, three years before his death, Carter explained how he wanted Love to represent him as an adult artist. “It has a little bit of everything, but I’m more focused on the present and the future. There are some fans who get stuck in nostalgic ways, but I’m over that now and I’m moving forward. I can’t sing 12-year-old kids’ songs for the rest of my life. That’s cheesy. I’m not going to do that. I’d rather fail and not do it than succeed and do it,” he said.
“The new music is doing really well,” he continued. The song has been listened to by over 100 million people and has gone gold in 10 countries. It’s doing well. I’m proud of it. I’m proud of the movement. I don’t expect it to be easy. There are a lot of people who are still stuck in the old school way, but I’m not that guy. There are people out there who will just stick to their old roots.” Carter also spoke to the publication about how his success as a child star has affected his life and career. Oh, I started doing this when I was eight years old. Then I stopped at 17. I’m a kid, a teenager, a teenager, an adult. I’ve had six albums. It’s not like I had an album when I was 12 and I was chasing my tail. I had three albums come out after ‘Aaron’s Party’ and they all sold millions,” he said.
That’s just part of the journey and the journey and just the maturation in the industry. It’s been tough, but it’s been great, the way it’s affected me. I just bought a house. It’s affected me well.” According to Celebrity Net Worth, Carter had sold more than four million albums in the United States and 10 million albums worldwide at the time of his death. His second album, Aaron’s Party (Come Get It), was also certified triple platinum by the RIAA.
In 2002, Carter’s parents, Robert and Jane Carter, filed a lawsuit in Hillsborough County, Florida against his former manager, Lou Pearlman, alleging that Pearlman had failed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties for Carter’s 1997 self-titled debut album, which was released through Pearlman’s production and record label, Transcontinental.
“In Europe, we sold millions of albums and I got nothing for it,” Carter told Rolling Stone at the time. He hasn’t been paid a penny yet, and yet they’re still selling it in record stores, Jane added. Jane also told Rolling Stone that Pearlman reached out to settle the case out of court. I said, ‘We’ll talk,’ and that’s how it goes at this point, she said at the time.
For her part, Pearlman told Rolling Stone: “If I work hard, I expect a bonus, and [Carter] deserves it. From our perspective, it’s normal in this business that when people are successful, they deserve a bonus. The question is how much. So to speak, what they have to do is file a claim. That way it’s documented and then we’ll deal with it.”
Along with Carter, the family also accused Pearlman of “fraudulent” contracts with former clients ‘N Sync and the Backstreet Boys (of which Carter’s brother, Nick, was a member), constituting “a form of criminal activity” that amounted to extortion.
Both boy bands sought release from Pearlman’s contracts in separate lawsuits, and the Backstreet Boys settled their case with the manager in October 1998. (They had Pearlman labeled them with the album title Black and Blue .) The terms of the settlement were not disclosed. We’re still involved with Backstreet, Pearlman told Rolling Stone. In March 2003, Pearlman was held in contempt of court for ignoring a court order to produce documents related to royalty payments. The Carters’ lawsuit against Pearlman was later settled out of court.
How Did Aaron Carter Die?
Carter was found dead on November 5, 2022, at his home in Lancaster, California. He was 34 years old. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department told TMZ at the time that Carter’s housekeeper found his body in the bathtub and called authorities. A law enforcement source also told TMZ that police received the 911 call at 11 a.m. on November 5 that a man had drowned in a bathtub.
“My fiancé Aaron Carter has passed away. I love Aaron with all my heart and this will be a journey of raising a son without a father. Please respect my family’s privacy as we deal with the loss of someone we loved so much. We are still in the process of accepting this unfortunate reality. “Your thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated,” Melanie Martin, Carter’s fiancée, said in a statement to TMZ.
A source told The Sun on November 6, 2022, that Carter was not suicidal and had plans to record new music in a studio the week after his death. His death also came a week after Carter told The Sun that he had entered rehab to regain custody of his son, Prince, whom he shared with Martin. Prince was 10 months old at the time of his father’s death. Carter told The Sun that Martin’s mother was granted custody of her son by court order.
“Aaron did not kill himself. He was planning to work on music next week with some artists remotely,” the source said. “He was locking up the studio, planning the logistics of the trip, and seemed very excited.” The insider continued: “Any suggestion that he was suicidal last night while in contact with his friends and teammates is false. Hearing the news this morning was truly shocking. Aaron had a big heart and was a truly talented artist. He wanted to show the world what a great father he was and continue to be strong with his music career.”
“Although my brother and I had a complicated relationship, my love for him has never waned. I always held out hope that somehow, one day, he would want to get on a healthy path and finally find the help he so desperately needed.” The post continued, “Sometimes we want to blame someone or something for the loss. But the truth is, addiction and mental illness are the real villains here. I will miss my brother more than anyone will know. I love you Chizz., now you finally have a chance to have some peace that you could never find here on this earth…. God, please take care of my baby brother.” Carter’s twin sister, Angel, also paid tribute to him in her own Instagram post. “To my twin… I love you so much. You will be missed,” she wrote. My sweet, funny Aaron, I have so many memories of you… and I promise to cherish them. She continued, I know you are at peace now. I will carry you with me until the day I die and see you again. 💔.” Along with Nick and Angel, Carter’s siblings include older sister Bobbie Jean Carter, half-sister Virginia Marie Carter, half-brother Kaden Brent Carter, and stepsister Taelyn Dobson. Aaron, Nick, Angel, and Bobbie’s younger sister, Leslie Carter, died of a drug overdose in 2012.
