Aaron Carter sold 1,000,000 albums before he turned 10. When he turned 18, he says the IRS hit him with $7.8 million in taxes his parents never paid. In the video below, he explains what happened to the money he made as a child. He was the little brother of a Backstreet Boy, opened for the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears, and had hits like “I Want Candy” and “Aaron’s Party.” His second album sold more than 3 million copies in the U.S. California’s Coogan law exists to protect child stars, so parents can’t spend their kids’ earnings. Carter says his parents found a way around it. “When I turned 18 years old, I got hit with 7.8 million dollars of taxes that they didn’t pay when I was 11 and 12 years old.” He admits he blew the rest himself on cars, shoes and stuff he calls “stupid.” The kid who sold millions of records ended up doing 500 straight off-Broadway shows for $654 a week, because it was the only place that would hire him. The IRS garnished his wages. In 2013, he filed for bankruptcy. His court filing showed just over $8,000 in assets and more than $2 million in debts, including a $1.3 million tax lien. Then came the moment he never forgot. He says the judge gave him a choice: he could send his parents to prison for 10 years each. “I will never let you put my parents in prison, no matter how dirty they’ve been to me.” He died in 2022. He was 34. The case for his parents: he was a child, someone had to manage the money, and he blew plenty of it himself. The case for Aaron: it was his money, and they left him with the bill. If you were Aaron, would you have sent them to prison, or did they not deserve it?