On Capitalism

Hilary Duff Slams Publisher For Wanting To Release Aaron Carter’s Unfinished Memoir

Cash grabs are gross as hell.

Hilary Duff and Aaron Carter during The Lizzy McGuire Movie Premiere. Duff just condemned publishers...
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It has been less than two weeks since Aaron Carter tragically passed away at the age of 34, and Ballast Books is set to posthumously published the singer’s unfinished memoir. For those that had a weird feeling reading that sentence, you aren’t alone: Hilary Duff, who briefly dated Carter as a teen, finds the whole thing to be “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 the Daily Mail. The book allegedly details how the two lost their virginity to each other (an antiquated term to begin with) when she was only 13 and he was 12.

“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 concluded her statement.

In an exerpt obtained by The Post, the book chronicles how the two young stars allegedly got intimate in a hotel room on Duff’s 13th birthday.

Carter reportedly wrote that, “Hilary and I lost our virginity to each other at a hotel…in LA. I think it was her birthday, maybe her 13th, but I don’t remember. Her friends walked in, and we just yelled at them to get out.”

The memoir, titled Aaron Carter: An Incomplete Story of an Incomplete Life, was co-written by Carter and Andy Symonds, who also happens to be the president and publisher of Ballast Books. On Wednesday, the publisher announced that the book would be published November 15. The next day, Carter’s team sided with Duff and condemned the move.

“We as Aaron’s management would like to thank Hilary Duff for her statement regarding the book that is set to be released,” Taylor Helgeson, of Big Umbrella Management, said in a statement to The Post.

“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.”

“This is a time for mourning and reflection not heartless money grabs and attention seeking. 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,” the statement concluded.

Ultimately, Symonds pushed back the publication of the unauthorized memoir after so much backlash.

“We are very pleased to hear that memoir has been postponed and would like to thank Andy Symonds [publisher of Ballast Books] for doing so,” his manager Taylor Helgeson said in a statement provided to CNN. “Thank you for respecting our wishes and the wishes of the family.”