A Timeline Of Aaron Carter's Relationships

This article references addiction and domestic violence.

Pop star Aaron Carter spent the majority of his life in the spotlight, which meant, for better or for worse, all of his ups and downs have been chronicled for the public. This includes everything from his struggles with addiction to his family drama to his relationships. And boy, were those relationships something. From the puppy love that was his pre-teen romance with Hilary Duff to the dramatics that characterized his relationship with Melanie Martin, nearly every chapter of his numerous love affairs has been made available for public consumption.

Here, we're taking a closer look at Aaron Carter's relationships. We've covered the more memorable moments (like the Carter-Duff-Lohan love triangle), as well as some of the more commonly forgotten episodes (like the time he dated his older brother's ex-girlfriend). We have, however, chosen to omit some of Carter's more questionable relationships (including those with Amanda Bynes, Mel B, and Madelaine Petsch), as they've never been publicly confirmed by the other party. According to Aaron, Amanda Bynes was his first-ever girlfriend, and they met during Nickelodeon's All That Music & More Festival in 1999.

Read on to see how many of Aaron Carter's romances you remember hearing about in real-time.

Fans who grew up in the early '00s likely remember Aaron Carter's first public relationship with some degree of fondness. After the pop star appeared on a 2001 holiday episode of "Lizzie McGuire," aptly named "Aaron Carter's Coming to Town," rumors began swirling that he was seeing the show's lead actor, Hilary Duff, in real life. The pair basically confirmed the relationship on the red carpet at "The Lizzie McGuire Movie" (pictured above). Duff and Carter dated on and off through 2003, when a cheating scandal (more on that later) drove them apart. They were spotted together again in 2007 but seemed to be hanging out as friends.

While the pair didn't remain particularly close after their teenage romance ended, their time together seems to have had quite a big impact on both of them. In 2014 (just after Duff tied the knot with hockey player Mike Comrie), Carter tweeted a string of messages aimed at his ex-girlfriend. The now-deleted posts, which were captured by E! News, read, "Don't be that stupid douche that loses the love of your life forever.. Like me... I'll spend the rest of my life trying to better myself to get back to her. I don't care what ANY of you think."

Duff may not have been itching to get back together the same way he was, but she certainly appears to look back on their relationship affectionately. Following Carter's death in 2022, she posted a heartfelt message on her Instagram account remembering her former boyfriend. It read in part, "You had a charm that was absolutely effervescent... boy did my teenage self love you deeply."

Aaron Carter's second relationship was much more divisive than his first. In January 2002, while he was still presumably with Hilary Duff, he also began seeing Lindsay Lohan. The "Parent Trap" actor and the pop star dated for just over a year, appearing at several events together (like Lohan's Sweet 16), before eventually breaking up in April 2003. Carter's duplicity did not go unnoticed by fans who were equal parts angry with him for his cheating ways and torn between which of their teenage icons, Duff or Lohan, to support.

In a 2005 interview on "The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch" (as quoted by Access Hollywood), Carter explained how the love triangle began. "I started dating Hilary on my 13th birthday," he said. "I was dating her for like a year and a half, and then I just got a little bored, so I went and started getting to know Lindsay, dating Lindsay. Then I didn't want to do that anymore, so I got back with Hilary." For the record, Carter reportedly told Deutsch that he also cheated on Duff "with her best friend" (via Entertainment Weekly).

While the drama definitely caused some friction between Duff and Lohan at the time — they both famously took shots at one another in the press — they eventually moved on and made up... sort of. In a 2003 interview with People magazine, Lohan addressed the entire scandal, saying, "Aaron and I were friends. That's my past. It was, like, a few months ago, you know. He's a cool guy. We're friends. Hilary is a cute girl. I wish her the best."

Given the drama that surrounded his relationships with Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan, it's not all that surprising that Aaron Carter decided to take a break from making his love life public in the mid 2000s. It wasn't until 2006 that he stepped out with his next girlfriend: Kari Anne Peniche. Peniche was a former Miss United States Teen whose crown was rescinded after she posed nude for Playboy. She was also his older brother Nick Carter's ex-girlfriend.

In September 2006, Aaron Carter proposed to Peniche onstage at a Las Vegas concert. The proposal, which came after less than a week of dating, caught literally everyone by surprise. It also didn't last very long. Just six days after slipping a ring on her finger, Carter announced that the engagement had ended. He explained why he'd called things off to Us Weekly: "I got caught up in the moment and proposed. I then realized it was a hasty thing to do and I am not ready for marriage quite yet."

Peniche responded by giving her version of events to People, calling it a "mutual decision." "He's really young and just needs to get his act together. I don't know what's going on right now. We're friends and maybe we'll get back together sometime. We haven't ruled out getting back together," she said. Eventually, the pair did get back together, at least briefly. In 2015, the Daily Mail published photos of the former couple canoodling on a Los Angeles street following a workout.

Following the end of his first engagement, it seems Aaron Carter really did spend some time working on himself. Or, at least, he took a break from dating. It was more than a decade later, in 2017, when he went public with his next girlfriend, Madison Parker. According to the "I Want Candy" singer, he met Parker, a photographer, through Instagram. It's unclear exactly how long the pair were together, but just days after telling ET he was serious about his lady love and wanted to marry her, People revealed that the couple had ended things.

Carter claimed that the split happened after he came out to Parker as bisexual. In an interview on "The Bert Show" (via ET), he said, "I had discussed [my sexuality] with my ex-girlfriend, and she didn't really understand it. She didn't want [to]. And that was it. We left it mutual and parted ways." Parker, on the other hand, told E! News that Carter's sexuality and the demise of their romance were unrelated. "Our parting of ways is something that's been coming for some time and it's the best thing for us both," she said.

Whatever the reason for their split, things certainly weren't as amicable as the pair had originally made it seem. In a clip captured by TMZ just weeks after their breakup, Parker pretended not to know who Aaron Carter was, then made a vague comment about "praying for your enemies."

Unfortunately for Aaron Carter, this negativity carried over into his next relationship. It's unclear how the "LøVë" artist met his next paramour, Lina Valentina, but the couple fell for one another pretty quickly. In a now-deleted post on his Instagram (captured by E! News), Carter gushed over his new love just days after their relationship became public, writing, "No one has understood me and shown the love this woman has for me EVER. You have my heart for the rest of my life... you're the woman I've always dreamed of."

But a year later, his tune had changed. In an exclusive statement, also given to E! News, Carter said that he and Valentina had ended things. "I was really hoping this would be the one that lasted forever. We had even talked about having kids, but we couldn't seem to get past our differences and the relationship eventually turned unhealthy." Just how unhealthy things had gotten was made evident less than a week later when Carter was granted a restraining order against his ex-girlfriend, who, allegedly, had physically assaulted him several times.

Despite the chaos that came out of their relationship, Valentina seems to have held on to some fond memories of her ex. Following his death, she wrote on Instagram (via Us Weekly), "You can rest now, Aaron, I'm wishing you so much peace. You're absolutely in a better place than you have been in the last couple years. Until we meet again."

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.

Aaron Carter's final love was Melanie Martin, a model he began dating in January 2020. Like many of Carter's other adult relationships, theirs was a rocky one. The couple fought publicly and even broke up a number of times, but would always end up reconciling before too much time had passed. While there were plenty of low moments (Martin was arrested on domestic violence charges involving Carter in March 2020, and they accused one another of violence in 2022), there were also plenty of highs. Chief among them was their engagement in June 2020 and, nine months later, the announcement that they were expecting a child. Their son, Prince Carter, was born in November 2021.

It's unclear where exactly Carter and Martin's relationship stood at the time of his death. While they had ended their engagement just days after Prince's birth, they had gone back and forth a number of times as to whether or not they were giving things another shot. Regardless of where their relationship technically stood, Carter's passing hit Martin hard. A statement she gave to People read, "My heart is completely broken over the passing of my fiance Aaron. I knew he was struggling, and I tried everything to help him. ... I will now be raising our son as a single mother and this is the worst day of my life, but I have to be strong for our son." She has also posted numerous tributes to the "Aaron's Party" artist on her Instagram.

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.