Hilary Duff's Emotional Post About Teenage Love Aaron Carter's Death Will Leave You In Tears

Hilary Duff rose to fame in the early 2000s with roles in "Lizzie McGuire," "A Cinderella Story," and "Raise Your Voice." The actress' role as Lizzie McGuire skyrocketed her career and allowed her to work with one of her earliest loves, Aaron Carter (via E! News). The pair met when they were just 13 years old, both rising stars. Carter guest starred on an episode of "Lizzie McGuire" as himself before the couple broke up. His episode followed Lizzie and her friends trying to meet Carter when he was filming a music video, as E! News reported. Lizzie and Aaron even shared a kiss under the mistletoe. 

The two later split and Carter went on to have a variety of alcohol and drug-related struggles throughout his life — along with suffering from multiple mental illnesses (per CNN). Following Carter's heartbreaking death on Saturday, Duff took to Instagram to share a touching tribute to her teenage love. 

Everyone knew that Aaron Carter had a lot of hardships throughout his life. And after news of his passing, childhood ex-girlfriend and fellow child star Hilary Duff took to Instagram to acknowledge that. "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," she wrote. Duff continued, recognizing Carter's "absolutely effervescent" charm and admitting how much her teenage self loved the late singer. 

Carter's on-again-off-again fiancee Melanie Martin also shared an Instagram tribute on her stories, posting a picture of the two kissing and saying "I can't breathe," according to Page Six. The duo welcomed a son Prince in 2021. After his body was found in his home, Martin was seen crying on the curb, mourning the loss of Carter.

Duff and Martin weren't the only former girlfriends who reacted to the "I Want Candy" singer's death. As Us Weekly revealed, tattoo artist Lina Valentina, who dated Carter from 2018-2019 shared "You have no idea how hard your family and I fought to try and help you and get you back to sobriety; how much pain it has caused us to see your health deteriorate over the last years, but I want people to remember WHO you were when you were sober. I was fortunate enough to get you there and witness how incredible you were when you were healthy."