HILARY Duff paid a touching tribute to her ex-boyfriend Aaron Carter years after their breakup over Lindsay Lohan.
The singer was tragically found dead in his bathtub at his home in Lancaster, California on Saturday.
The Lizzie McGuire actress, who began dating Aaron in 2001 when they were both 13 years old, has penned an emotional tribute to her ex-boyfriend following the news of his death.
She wrote in a touching Instagram post: “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.
“You had a charm that was absolutely effervescent… boy did my teenage self love you dearly.
“Sending love to your family at this time. Rest easy.”
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The pair had been on and off in the 2000s when they were teenagers.
Aaron even appeared in an episode of Hilary’s Disney Channel series.
They eventually ended their relationship in 2003, because the star was also dating Mean Girls star Lindsay Lohan at the same time.
When Aaron and Hilary temporarily called it off in 2002, he started dating Lindsay.
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The dating timelines between all three coincided until Aaron and Hilary went their separate ways for good.
In a now-deleted interview on The Big Idea With Donny Deutsch, the Aaron’s Party singer said of their romance: “I started dating Hilary on my 13th birthday.
“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.”
Since the demise of their courtship, mother-of-three Hilary went on to marry and divorce NHL player Mike Comrie before tying the knot again with singer Matthew Koma.
Regarding his ex-girlfriend’s subsequent relationships, Aaron told FOX News: “I’m really happy for her that she’s in a successful relationship and that she’s going to have a baby.
Sometimes I think to myself, maybe that could have been me but it is what it is.
“It’s crazy, that’s ancient history now. She knows I will always love her.”
The singer, who died yesterday aged 34, never made it down the aisle despite being engaged twice.
Aaron and his fiancee Melanie Martin welcomed their first child together last year.
Sources exclusively told The U.S. Sun that Aaron was found “unresponsive” in a bathtub by a staff member after he died of what friends suspect was a drug overdose.
It comes just weeks after Carter exclusively told The U.S. Sun in his last-ever interview that he had checked into rehab in an effort to get his son Prince back.
