Hilary Duff says an upcoming tell-all book about Aaron Carter is monetizing his very recent and sudden death.
The “How I Met Your Father” star, who famously dated the late musician when they were both barely teens in the early 2000s, is calling book publisher Ballast Books “disgusting” for announcing its plans to release Carter’s unfinished memoir. The pop star died Saturday at the age of 34.
The publisher announced Wednesday that “Aaron Carter: An Incomplete Story of an Incomplete Life” would come out on Nov. 15, per Today. The book was co-written by Andy Symonds, who according to E! spent three years interviewing the “I’m All About You” singer.
The book reportedly gets into salacious details about Duff and Carter’s relationship — including when he and Duff “lost [their] virginity to each other” according to an excerpt obtained by Page Six.
“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 said in a statement obtained by HuffPost and released widely to the media.
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“To water down Aaron’s life story to what seems to be unverified click-bait for profit is disgusting. In no way do I condone shedding any light on what is so obviously an uninformed, heartless, money grab,” Duff added.
Carter’s management sent a statement to E! regarding the upcoming book, calling it “obscenely disrespectful and unauthorized.”
“Aaron Carter hired me to help him tell the world his story,” Symonds, who is also the president and publisher of Ballast Books, said in a statement. “That story, while tragically cut short, was filled with good and bad. His life was far from pretty, and understandably certain people in the public eye don’t want some of the stories Aaron tells in his book to come to light.”
“That doesn’t make them any less true or newsworthy,” Symonds added. “Aaron had a right — as we all do — to tell his story. As a journalist, I am honored that he chose me to help him do that. In addition to being cathartic for him, Aaron hoped this book would help others struggling with addiction and mental illness.”