Sophia Michaels
The planned publication of an Aaron Carter memoir is not sitting well with those who were close to the late singer. In recent statements, both his management company and former girlfriend Hilary Duff voiced their concerns with Ballast Books, calling the publisher’s attempt to promote the novel, titled Aaron Carter: An Incomplete Story of an Incomplete Life, just days after the singer’s death, a “heartless money grab.”
After the New York Post published an excerpt of the book, which claimed Duff and Carter lost their virginities to each other, the Lizzie McGuire actress slammed the story as “unverified clickbait,” calling its publication “disgusting.”
“It’s really sad that within a week of Aaron’s death, there’s a publisher that seems to be recklessly pushing a book out to capitalize on this tragedy without taking appropriate time or care to fact check the validity of his work,” Duff told E! News. “To water down Aaron’s life story to what seems to be unverified click-bait for profit is disgusting.”
Carter’s management backed Duff, issuing a statement to the Post‘s Page Six and further criticizing the publisher’s decision to go forth with promoting the unauthorized book, which lists both Carter and writer Andy Symonds as authors.
“In the few short days following our dear friend’s passing we have been trying to grieve and process while simultaneously having to deal with obscenely disrespectful and unauthorized releases, including an album titled ‘Blacklisted,’ a single titled ‘Lately,’ and now a book,” Big Umbrella Management said.
“This is a time for mourning and reflection not heartless money grabs and attention seeking,” Carter’s management company continued. “We would ask the parties responsible to remove the aforementioned content and that no further content be released without approval from his family, friends, and associates.”
Duff and Carter dated as teenagers between 2000 and 2003, when they were both starting their careers. Following Carter’s death, the actress wrote on social media, “I am deeply sorry that life was so hard and that you had to struggle in front of the whole world… Boy, did my teenage self love you deeply.”
Ballast Books did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone‘s request for comment on Duff and Carter’s comments. In a press release for the book previously sent to Rolling Stone, co-author Symonds claimed that Carter “was an open book during the writing process.”
“It’s a tragic irony that his autobiography will never include all his stories, thoughts, hopes, and dreams as he intended,” Symonds said in it.
