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Proof that not every superstar is born overnight, Sabrina Carpenter had already released five studio efforts and starred in multiple films and TV shows before becoming a global sensation in 2024 with song of the summer, “Espresso,” and its parent album, “Short n’ Sweet.” She has since scored a handful of further No. 1 singles, picked up some coveted Grammy Awards, and generally becoming one of the most in-demand, most talked about pop singers of the decade.
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But while the multi-talent, who first tasted fame as a teen in Disney Channel sitcom “Girl Meets World,” appears to have the world at her feet, things haven’t always been a bed of roses. From the deaths of family members and friends to relationship breakdowns, battles with mental health, and even death threats, here’s a look at times that Carpenter’s eventful life took a turn for the tragic.
Sabrina Carpenter was bullied for being quirky
Sabrina Carpenter was certainly an ambitious child. Before she even reached her teenage years, she appeared in “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” and Fox sitcom “The Goodwin Games,” launched her own YouTube channel singing covers of Adele and Christina Aguilera, and finished third in an online talent contest staged by Miley Cyrus. Unfortunately, many of her peers didn’t appreciate her world-dominating plans.
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“Ironically, I was bullied for singing,” Carpenter told fellow actor/singer Maya Hawke during a joint chat for Interview magazine. “I had really big dreams as a child, and it worked out for me. I did well in school, but I’ll be honest, I started homeschooling really young. This sounds so dramatic, but I felt safer learning the way that I did.”
Carpenter, who insisted that, contrary to popular belief at the time, that her parents weren’t of the pushy stage-parents kind, acknowledges how lucky she was to be able to seek an escape from her tormentors: “I was in an online school, and then I started working at a pretty young age, so I got out of those little toxic circles that you sometimes don’t even realize you’re in because you’re so young. So I was grateful for that.”
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Sabrina Carpenter was ‘constantly’ led astray in her early career
Although Sabrina Carpenter now appears to embody female empowerment, the former Disney star has acknowledged that she hasn’t always been in the position to do so. In fact, during her early years, she felt that she was under the thumb of those who didn’t necessarily have her best interests at heart.
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“For a long time, I was constantly guided and misguided,” Carpenter told Time in 2024. However, she was also able to seek some positives from such a difficult period. “I’m so grateful for all of those times where I was led astray, because now I’m a lot more equipped going into situations where I have to trust my own instincts.”
Following the release of her fifth studio album “emails i can’t send,” Carpenter realized she was now fully willing to embrace the chaos of life. “I wanted to make sure to still be young while I’m young,” she acknowledged. “To go through your life trying to be a little robot angel, you’re going to have a lot of regrets later. That’s also why during that time of my life I was a little bit of an emotional wreck.”
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She lost confidence after suffering a major heartbreak
“I think he’s onto me every time I say, ‘I’m over that son of a b***h’ / I’m lying to my therapist” sang Sabrina Carpenter on “Tornado Warnings,” one of many songs from 2022 album “emails i can’t send” inspired by her first real-life heartbreak. The former Disney actor has never revealed the identity of the man responsible. However, she’s not been afraid to discuss just how devastated he made her feel.
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While speaking on “The Zane Lowe Show” two years on, Carpenter admitted that the experience not only took a while to get over, but also made her second guess everything about herself: “Those instincts, like the trust in yourself, just the ability to move throughout a room without questioning if other people’s opinions are more important than your own.”
In a 2025 interview with Vogue, Carpenter disclosed how the breakdown of said relationship felt completely different to any she’d previously gone through. “My biggest heartbreak to date,” she explained. “In a sense of really understanding the grieving-someone-that’s-alive feeling. I never felt that until this one.”
Sabrina Carpenter dealt with severe anxiety
As with many of her songs, Sabrina Carpenter drew upon her own real-life experiences for “Singular: Act II” cut “Exhale”: on this occasion, her battle with anxiety. In the track, she sings, “I put too much weight on words and glances / I, I put too much weight on situations / I, I put too much on myself thinking I don’t deserve what I’ve earned.”
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“I don’t think you know what it is because it is a thousand questions that you can’t answer,” Carpenter explained about the mental health condition in an interview with MTV News (via J-14). “Sometimes it feels like you can’t breathe; you don’t know where to start, you don’t know where to begin to start feeling better and to start healing yourself.”
Carpenter also admitted that she was initially reluctant to open up about her struggles: “I never wanted anybody to feel like I was complaining … I have so many things to be grateful for.” However, she also realized that by speaking out, she could help fans going through similar experiences. “It’s taking that second to remind yourself that just because you have so much to be grateful for doesn’t mean that there aren’t things you’re internally struggling with.”
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She lost her close friend Cameron Boyce
In 2019, “The Descendants” and “Jessie” star Cameron Boyce tragically died after suffering a severe epileptic seizure at the age of just 20. Having also found fame on the Disney Channel around the same time in “Girl Meets World,” Sabrina Carpenter had become a close friend, and she was understandably left devastated at the news.
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“You are something extraordinarily special cam,” Carpenter began a heartfelt eulogy on Facebook shortly after Boyce’s passing. “I cannot grasp what a world without you looks like yet, nor do I want to. Nothing I can write will feel right, or pay enough tribute to how incredible you actually are, but all I know is I am so beyond lucky to have known you and eternally grateful for the times you and I shared together.”
Carpenter, who also posted a photo of the pair, went on to compliment Boyce’s sense of humor, spirit, and mind before lamenting how the world had now been robbed of his talent. She concluded her message, “You will be so f***ing missed. but absolutely never forgotten. to your family, I am sending all the love in the world as I can’t imagine how you are feeling in this time. See you again one day cam.”
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Sabrina Carpenter received death threats due to Olivia Rodrigo’s song
In 2021, Olivia Rodrigo scored a massive global hit with “drivers license,” an angst-ridden tale of heartbreak which hinted that ex-boyfriend Joshua Bassett had done the dirty on her with an older blond girl. Considering that her age and hair color matched the description, many assumed that Sabrina Carpenter was the unnamed other woman. It was a love triangle which catapulted all parties into the stratosphere, but it also came at a cost, too.
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While Carpenter, who’s become renowned for her eventful love life just as much as her music, has never explicitly addressed her involvement, she did appear to acknowledge the fallout on her 2022 album, “emails i can’t send.” Indeed, on the track, “because i liked a boy,” the pop princess sings, “Now I’m a homewrecker, I’m a s*** / I got death threats filling up semi-trucks.”
With Bassett disclosing that he, too, revealed similar threats to his life, Rodrigo has since vowed to be a give a little more forewarning for any future real-life tales. “Literally, it was the first song out of the gate and all of that s*** happened,” she told Interview about the trouble-making song. “I felt so ill-equipped … That was an overwhelming experience. But now I definitely feel a responsibility [to give a heads up].”
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Sabrina Carpenter lost her beloved grandpa
In 2020, Sabrina Carpenter took to Instagram to share the sad news that her beloved grandfather, Frank Cartwright, had died. As she revealed to her millions of followers, the “Adventures in Babysitting” star had always been particularly close to the man she described (via J-14) as “the silliest most loving soul who supported me through everything.”
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“My heart hurts immensely,” Carpenter captioned a collection of heartwarming snaps of herself with her grandpa, who you may not know is also the father of “The Simpsons” voice actor Nancy Cartwright. “I will miss [you] forever. I promise we’ll take good care of [grandma] here. [Love] ya.”
Carpenter was subsequently showered with messages of support from both her fans and various celebrity friends including Meghan Trainor, Laura Marano, and her former “Girl Meets World” co-star Danielle Fishel Karp. “Wish I could wrap my arms around you,” the latter wrote.
She also lost her beloved grandma
Just two years after her grandpa died, Sabrina Carpenter also lost her grandma, Marilyn Cartwright. “You were always so interested in the details that most people look right past, you made every person you spoke to feel so individually important,” the “Espresso” singer wrote in a tribute post uploaded to Instagram. “You gave me so much authentic genuine love for so much of my life and I will never take that for granted,” Carpenter continued before describing her grandmother as her “biggest fan.” The “Tall Girl” star also posted several snaps of the pair together as well as throwback photos of Marilyn in her younger days, including a wedding snap and a cheeky picture in which she sported a “Lady Marmalade”-referencing shirt.
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Carpenter often offered glimpses into their touching relationship on social media. In 2016, she tweeted that her grandma had given her seal of approval to the tune “Smoke and Fire” because “it has a hot beat to it.” Three years later, she responded to a Christmas greeting from a fan by revealing that she and Marilyn would be spending the day playing ping-pong together.
Sabrina Carpenter had to cancel a show over a bomb threat
Sabrina Carpenter suffered a major scare in 2022 when she was forced to cancel a headlining show in Portland over a credible bomb threat just moments before she was due on stage. The multiple Grammy Award winner was left devastated by the turn of events, informing her fans (via Rolling Stone), “I can’t tell you how much it breaks my heart. This is the last thing I want to do.”
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Carpenter had been due to perform at the Keller Auditorium for her fifth studio effort, “emails i can’t send.” But when the venue that she’d upgraded from and was originally supposed to perform at, the Crystal Ballroom, received an anonymous phone call that included a bomb threat, promoter AEG Presents decided they had no option but to announce a postponement.
“While the threat was not directed at Keller Auditorium specifically, Sabrina and event organizers agreed that out of an abundance of caution, the show be called off,” a rep told Rolling Stone. “Steps were taken to ensure that the audience exited the venue calmly, quickly, and safely.” The Portland police force also stepped up their presence at both establishments, but luckily, the night passed without any incident.
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Barry Keoghan was rumored to have cheated on her
Despite a bigger age gap than you may think, Sabrina Carpenter and her “Please Please Please” video co-star, Barry Keoghan, became the hottest new power couple in 2024. But a year on from the first rumors about their relationship, news emerged that they’d split. And according to the gossip hounds, infidelity was the root cause.
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An insider claimed to People that the separation was an amicable one spearheaded by their desires to focus on their respective careers. But a series of blind items and fan theories soon pointed the finger squarely at Keoghan and his apparent inability to stay faithful. Such talk got so out of hand that the Irishman felt compelled to issue a statement on X which began, “I can only sit and take so much. My name has been dragged across the internet in ways I usually don’t respond to. I have to respond now because it’s getting to a place where there are too many lines being crossed.”
Breckie Hill, the influencer who many believed Keoghan had cheated with, also took to social media in an attempt to set the record straight. “To put it simply for you all, no, I did not get with Barry,” she said in a TikTok video. “I have never even encountered this man in my life. The only time I’ve seen him is on my TV screen from watching ‘Saltburn.'”
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Sabrina Carpenter was wrongly accused of fooling her audience
Sabrina Carpenter, whose transformation from child star to today is something to behold, may have been showing off her impressive vocal abilities since she was a tween. But that didn’t stop certain naysayers from questioning whether she truly was singing in real time on her “Short n’ Sweet” world tour. Indeed, in 2024, one particular TikTok user set the cat among the pigeons when they asked if Carpenter ever performed live, uploading a clip from a show as apparent video evidence with the caption, “Hate to say it but 30% lip singing, 30% backing track, 40% singing.”
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Horrified at having her reputation tarnished, the “Feather” singer subsequently issued a defiant response to the hater. “I sing live at every show 100%,” Carpenter declared in a since-deleted comment (via New York Post). “Would you like to speak to my audio engineers?” Unfortunately, this clapback didn’t have the desired effect, and the TikToker continued to raise their suspicions, stating they would very much like to meet her crew “and tell them to lower the backtrack voice as it’s way too high.”
Sabrina Carpenter was hit on stage by a firework
Pyrotechnics can make a stage performance pop. But as Michael Jackson tragically found out while shooting a Pepsi commercial, they can also pose a significant danger. Just ask Sabrina Carpenter, who very nearly came unstuck via a stray firework while gracing the Outside Lands music festival stage in 2025.
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The “Taste” singer was busy wowing the crowds at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park when she appeared to get a little too close for comfort to the explosive stage props. “Oh my God!” she screamed (via People) while running off to the side of the stage with her dancers, with certain reports claiming that she was hit in the chest.
Luckily, Carpenter seemed physically unscathed by the incident and soon returned to continue her hit-packed set. She didn’t even acknowledge the scare while captioning a series of images from the event. “Thank you to my whole team and crew. all the talented people who made this show happen on and off stage,” she wrote on Instagram. “i love you all so much.”
Sabrina Carpenter suffered a backlash over her album cover
In June 2025, Sabrina Carpenter announced the release of her seventh studio effort, “Man’s Best Friend.” But the news was soon overshadowed by the furor over its suggestive album cover in which she poses on all fours while resting her hand on the knee of an unseen suited man who’s tightly gripping her blond locks.
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Carpenter, certainly no stranger to controversy, suffered one almighty backlash from all sides of the media. “It’s just soft porn pandering to the male gaze,” read an opinion piece by The Guardian. “Sabrina Carpenter’s over-sexed, degrading new album cover has gone too far,” argued The Telegraph. The New York Post was even more scathing, writing, “It’s an amazingly regressive message from a supposed girl-power icon, and it does a tremendous disservice to the millions of girls who look up to stars like Carpenter for cues about femininity and womanhood.”
The singer herself appeared unbothered by all the negativity, responding to a fan on X who’d asked whether the star has anything to offer apart from sex with “girl yes and it is goooooood.” The multi-talent had previously told Rolling Stone that she saw such hostile reactions as a form of hypocrisy. “It’s always so funny to me when people complain. They’re like, ‘All she does is sing about this.’ But those are the songs that you’ve made popular,” she argued. “Clearly you love sex. You’re obsessed with it.”
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