We like to call this – a publicity stunt. 

Aaron Carter has called off his engagement to actress Kari Ann Peniche, 22, after just one week, the singer confirms to Us Weekly. “I got caught up in the moment and proposed. I then realized it was a hasty thing to do and I am not ready for marriage quite yet,” Carter, 18, tells the magazine exclusively.

A source close to the star of the upcoming E! reality series House of Carters says, “They are just going to be friends now. She still wants to keep dating him but Aaron is not quite sure. He was trying to appease her but came to his senses and realized it was the wrong thing to do.”

Us also broke the news last week that Carter proposed to Peniche, an ex-girlfriend of his older brother, Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter, onstage in Las Vegas on September 16.