Aaron Carter: I have an eating disorder, ‘I am not a meth head’

Addressing rumors days after his arrest on DUI and marijuana-related charges in Georgia, singer-actor Aaron Carter says his gaunt appearance is the result not of drugs but of an eating disorder and other health issues.

“I am not a meth head,” Carter, 29, told “Entertainment Tonight” in a video the TV program posted online Wednesday. “I have never touched . . . [methamphetamine] in my life,” he said, adding he also has never used crack or heroin, and tried ecstasy only “a couple of times” in his midteens. He is prescribed Xanax for anxiety and propranolol for high blood pressure, he said, and had last smoked marijuana nine hours before his arrest.

Carter additionally told “E.T.” that he was diagnosed at 19 with a hiatal hernia, a common condition in which part of one’s stomach lodges in the diaphragm. Serious cases create habitual heartburn and extreme cases may require surgery, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Saying he was scheduled to attend an athletic training camp to work on body issues, he broke into tears as he addressed fans, saying, “I am sorry for the way that I look.” Internet trolls have attacked him on Twitter, he said. “How would you feel every two seconds, seeing a tweet, ‘You have AIDS. Go die. Oh, look at this meth head. Oh, meth kills. Crack kills,’ ” he asked. “It’s body shaming and it’s the toughest thing to deal with.”

Carter stated it was difficult to see himself in a mirror, saying, “Oh, my God, it hurts so badly . . . because there’s, like, nothing I can do about it.” He said body-image issues are more common in men than people realize because “men are a lot more prideful [than women]. We don’t want to admit it. I don’t want to admit I don’t look good.”