Original subtitles

[line ringing]

[Aaron speaking]

After my claims that Nick Carter sexually assaulted me...

I experienced two years of harassment,

and people not believing me.

Aaron Carter owed me nothing.

Everybody, um, out there just let Melissa tell her story.

[Melissa] He did not have to stand up.

But he started speaking out a lot.

[Aaron] I'm a massive silent striker, and I'm not gonna stop.

[Scaachi Koul] Aaron talking about all these women

that Nick is alleged to have assaulted,

forces it back into the public consciousness.

[reporter] Aaron shared a lengthy rant accusing Nick

of being violent with several women.

[Jen] Aaron made everything public.

[Aaron] He abused me my whole childhood.

He was taught any publicity is good publicity.

-Don't spit in my face. I'm sick of you doing this. -You'll respect me.

The dysfunction is real and deep.

Made worse by spending formative years in the public eye.

With both of them, there is a root cause of the chaos.

[John Spaulding] Nick and Aaron are both victims

of bad parenting, of poor choices,

of neglect.

The damage was irrevocable.

[Zena Burns] I think Aaron deserves for people to know

what he had to go through.

It is incredibly, incredibly tragic.

[sirens blaring]

[interviewer] What are your ambitions?

You're going to be famous... You are famous now.

Are you going to be as big, do you think, as, uh, Nick?

As Nick? Uh...

I don't know. I mean, I hope so.

But not really in the sense of being big.

Just having a good time, and succeeding in my life and fulfilling my goals

is all that really matters.

[Mark Giovi] Aaron had what you called the X factor.

I call it "the David Lee Roth thing."

I was Aaron Carter's tour manager.

He would walk out on the stage,

and you could just see the fans, the girls, going crazy.

[announcer] Aaron Carter! Whoo-hoo!

Hello.

[Lori Majewski] And we think Nick was young.

He was 13 when he gets into the Backstreet Boys,

seventeen when they had that immense success.

Aaron was in the single digits.

I don't know that anyone expected Aaron to take off just as quickly

and just as big as he took off.

Aaron's first album came out when he was nine,

and he sold a million albums by the time he was ten.

Aaron's Party (Come Get It) went triple platinum.

♪ I want candy ♪

[Zena] "I Want Candy," that was a bop.

There was an effervescent quality to it.

Happy, fun.

It just puts a smile on your face.

[Mark] Watching him grow through the years

and watching his career turn into this headlining act,

it was an interesting ride.

[John] There was an extended period of time

where, uh, Aaron was not around Nick.

And Aaron desperately missed his brother.

And while Aaron was on tour, we brought Nick out on stage at the end of the concert.

And Aaron just broke down into tears.

[Nick] I decided to make a guest appearance for my little brother.

[John] They loved each other, obviously.

It was a shame that they had to spend

so much time away from each other.

I saw it as Nick and Aaron had been robbed

of a fundamental relationship in a family between two brothers.

Because they had to focus on their careers.

Jane Carter was the quintessential stage mom.

The stories of the Carters' financial struggles are no secret.

And after Lou Pearlman put together the Backstreet Boys,

the financial rewards of putting Nick through the Lou Pearlman star factory

were lucrative enough that, I think, when Jane saw the opportunity

for another one of her sons to be rich and famous, she jumped at it.

And thus Lou and Trans Continental Records started working with Aaron.

Nick was floating his family.

He was the reason that the rest of the family

was able to move into a nicer house.

But there were always whispers around Lou Pearlman

that he was inappropriate with his underage talent.

[Bob Curiano] When I first heard the rumor, I wasn't surprised.

Lou was very keyed into the way you looked.

He wanted you to come over and work out.

And he actually had, uh, a method

that he would sculpt your abs to look a certain way.

He had tried it on me in the early days.

And 20 years later, it's in the news

that he was doing it with them.

I don't know how far it went, but he was grooming boys.

[photographer 1] Nick, can you get a... Can you wave?

[photographer 2] And last big smile right at me, Nick.

[Scaachi] Nick, in his memoir, denied

that there was anything inappropriate between him and Lou.

But Jane had done interviews before

where she had said that there was something amiss

between Lou and her eldest son.

She never really, really says it with her whole chest.

But if Jane thought that Lou was doing anything with her eldest son,

I don't know what she was thinking

giving her youngest child then to Lou.

[Bob] What is the price you'll pay for fame?

Just how much will you give up to become famous?

[John] When they were married,

Jane and Bob managed Nick and Aaron.

But when Nick turned 18, he removed his parents from being his managers.

He wanted more from his relationship with them.

They lashed out at him in retaliation for feeling that way.

It still bothers him to this day.

It wasn't for lack of Nick trying

to have a mother figure in his life.

She just wasn't available to him at that capacity.

[John] Jane and Bob were focused on money.

They took the responsibility from Nick

and placed it on Aaron at a very young age.

It's your job now.

-[woman 1] Can we get a, uh-- -[man 1] Caption.

-[man 2] He's into it. He's into it. -[woman 2] Aaron Carter.

He's, uh, Nick Carter's little brother.

[woman 1] Aaron, point at me right here.

[overlapping conversations]

No child should have to think about the well-being of his family at that age.

[photographer] Aaron!

[John] And it spilled over

onto Aaron and Nick's relationship.

I felt like there was a little bit of bitterness from Jane to Nick

because he did decide to go off on his own

and become financially independent from the family.

So then Jane was in Aaron's ear all the time.

Anytime Aaron didn't want to do anything,

"Well, do you think Nick takes a break?"

And I even heard Bob say to Aaron one time,

"You're never gonna be as good as your brother."

That ended up being a massive chip on Aaron's shoulder.

He didn't necessarily want to be in the shadows.

He wanted his own thing.

Did you get famous from your brother?

Um, I have a very good relationship with Nick.

He didn't like to be reminded he wasn't at the same level of his brother.

[Jen] Nick had no idea.

He didn't know that this was happening, you know, in the background.

So one minute, Aaron was really happy and couldn't wait to see him,

the next minute, "You're my competition."

[Mark] Jane and Bob Carter did some great things

and advanced his career to what it was.

But they also did some negative things.

They treated the children like employees.

Aaron had the opportunity to be on Broadway,

which was an amazing accomplishment for a 13-year-old.

And it was the lead character for Seussical, the musical.

[reporter] Carter is taking on Broadway.

Seussical's producers hope his young fans will fill the seats to see their idol.

Screaming is allowed, but not screaming "I want candy."

He did a great job.

But it was grueling.

And he had six shows a week.

And his family, I guess, said they were going to go

on a family vacation when Aaron was done.

He was very much looking forward to that.

After the show, one night, he found out that his parents

and his siblings were already on the family vacation without him.

He was so angry at his family.

He then picked up a knife and put it towards the side of his head.

And we were all like, "Dude, what are you doing?

Just put it down, put it down, put it down, put it down."

And then his bodyguard went up to him and took it.

That was one of the scariest moments,

um, that I've ever had working for Aaron.

Nick talked to him on the phone.

But his parents didn't come up to New York to see him after that.

I... I can't explain that to you.

[John] When your child's a superstar,

I would like to know how he's feeling.

How it's affecting him emotionally, mentally.

I just don't feel that, uh, the parents were playing their role as parents should.

[Scaachi] The Carters created children

that were disproportionately responsible for the family surviving.

That is so gonna [bleep] with you.

[Jen] I saw Aaron go from this beautiful,

shining bright light of a human being,

who had everything at the palm of his hands,

to adult issues being thrown on him.

And irresponsibility. And just insanity.

[Kaya Jones] This is a hard photo for me to look at

because it's how I first met them.

Super happy brothers, but then weren't.

When we were together, Aaron came to live with me and Nick.

He was so childlike all the time,

you know, even though he was 16.

So Nick was like a dad to him at periods of time.

People just come here to just have fun.

-That's why I'm here, you know, with him. -[man] Yeah, exactly.

[Kaya] A lot of the siblings looked up to Nick,

and he was good to his siblings at times.

Bobbie Jean lived with us, too.

But Nick wanted nothing to do with his mother.

He didn't want her in his life.

That might explain why he doesn't have a lot of respect for women.

But I never saw that part of him in the beginning.

He was actually sober when we were together.

But when he started drinking,

it became a whole other thing.

[Dave Holmes] Nick had had some issues with alcohol.

This was at the time in his career

when the Backstreet thing is kind of off its peak.

When he started to drink, he just couldn't stop.

It's bad when you're a girlfriend to someone,

and you're in a recording studio,

and your boyfriend vomited all over the studio.

When Nick was drunk, he was very chaotic.

After I left him, he got a horrible DUI.

You can see, like, something is going on.

The alcohol played a big part in the downfall of the family.

I had smoked pot with my Uncle Bob a couple of times.

It was me, him and Nick and Aaron's oldest sister, Bobbie Jean.

But from what I saw, none of them were doing anything heavy.

I think the separation of the family is what started that,

because Bob was more inclined to do those things.

When Jane and Bob split up, Jane moved off the property.

Aaron told me that he would break into Bob's safe to get Xanax.

I wasn't surprised.

I would find these aerosol cans around the compound,

and I found out that Aaron was using those aerosol cans to get high.

[John] Aaron was huffing paint with his dad.

I don't know how Bob even got into that

and then doing that with his son.

Had I had the ability to stop it,

uh, to do something about it, uh, I would have...

I would have immediately.

[Jen] I remember having a conversation with Jane about it.

I don't know what happened after that, but nothing changed.

There's not enough anxiety medicine in the world

that can take away the pain that a child feels

being neglected by their family.

As a teenager, Aaron filed for legal emancipation from his mother, Jane.

He alleged that she had embezzled $100,000 from him,

and he no longer wanted her involved in his business dealings.

Nor did he want to legally be her son.

There were lots of reports, and Aaron got really raw.

It had a lot to do with anger,

but I love her, and she's still my mother.

[Zena] At the end of the day,

he didn't follow through with the emancipation filing.

But there did seem to be a culture in the Carter family of fighting and chaos.

This is a family that was so steeped in pop culture from the '90s on.

If you watch Nick and Aaron's reality show House of Carters,

it's a really interesting look at that family dynamic.

All the siblings are living in the same house together

for the first time since they were kids.

Let's tell you something real quick.

You're gonna turn the [bleep] music down and respect me.

-All right? All right? -Don't spit in my face, dawg.

-Don't spit in my face. -All right? All right?

Nick and Aaron get in a physical fight in one episode.

Aaron is, sort of, shoved into this room by his brother.

The door is closed, and all you hear is this scuffle.

And then these boys emerge puffy and crying.

You are not a good person, and everybody sees it, Nick!

And then they just hug and say, "All right, let's move on."

I'm not... I'm not... You know what? We're brothers.

-I'm sorry. -There's still a level of intimidation in it

between them.

[Ashley] House of Carters was so accurate.

They were always fighting with each other.

[woman] Get out of my kitchen.

[Ashley] I had a front row seat for a while.

It was always bickering like that.

And honestly, out of the entire family,

Leslie and Aaron were always kind, always respectful.

[Jen] Leslie is the middle child in the family.

And she was also a musician in her own right.

She had been taking Xanax for a long, long time,

just like Aaron.

But I didn't see a lot of effort go into helping her.

[Ashley] I personally saw Leslie struggle to cope

with how she was treated by her family.

She was quiet and just really sweet.

Leslie died in January of 2012

of a drug overdose.

[John] Jane blamed Nick for Leslie's death.

She told Nick that, uh, he should have been there for her.

He had the money.

Why didn't he do something?

I don't think it was Nick's responsibility.

But I think Aaron took, uh,

what his mom was saying to heart,

and I think that damaged their relationship.

I think that was her goal.

I think she was trying to do that.

I started to get blamed by the rest of the family.

[Zena] On the Dr. Phil show, Nick explains his guilt

around Leslie passing away.

[Nick] There was definitely

a part of me that did blame myself

because of the responsibility that I, sort of, took on

as, um, the oldest member in my family.

[Zena] I think that's an incredibly tough position to be in.

Why did you not go to your sister's funeral?

The reason I did not go was because the conversation

turned into not about her death

and more about themselves.

[Jen] Once Aaron found out that Nick wasn't coming

to Leslie's funeral,

the first thing that Jane did

was tell Aaron, "He doesn't love you.

See? He doesn't love you." And that's not the truth.

But Aaron became very upset and very aggressive.

Hitting Jane and had her up against the wall.

It was an... just an insane moment to be in.

I don't understand why a parent

would push so hard to divide two brothers.

[Jen] After Leslie's funeral, it got really dark.

I was really, really concerned for Nick, and for Aaron.

But then Nick met someone that said,

"Hey, you need help."

We need to get you in therapy,

start coping with these things.

[Nick] I kind of put a... a barrier up

that I was never gonna get married.

That, that was based on my family.

You know, seeing them divorce...

[Jen] Lauren went to therapy with him.

Well, my parents divorced when I was nine.

[Jen] To see Nick and Lauren on I (Heart) Nick Carter

was pretty interesting

because that's really how they are.

The only thing I have is... is Lauren

at the end of the day, that's it.

That's all I have right now, and that's all I care about.

I saw Nick a few years ago.

He came on my radio show,

and we talked about his family.

He was doing his best to not recreate for his kids

what he went through as a child.

[Scaachi] Nick was able to get sober,

get married, build a family and continue having a career.

But Aaron Carter only has a career as a child.

[Zena] At a certain point,

the demand for new Aaron Carter music,

that just wasn't there.

And at the same time, Aaron was dealing

with his own personal troubles,

which he's been open about.

I definitely felt like I... I hit a rock bottom

personally and emotionally.

And that's when I thought,

you know, this is... this is a time for me

to really go take some time and do some self-healing.

[Scaachi] The older he gets,

the more troubled his life seems to be.

You can see he changed really drastically.

[Mark] After he became an adult,

Aaron had to go to rehab and,

and Nick helped Aaron go through these rehabs.

[Jen] Aaron did try.

Unfortunately, he had mental health issues

that come along with being an addict.

He was a very sensitive, sensitive person

and all he wanted was to be loved.

[Lina] My name is Lina Valentina.

Aaron and I dated for a year.

It was a very intense year 'cause Aaron was struggling

with mental health issues

mixed with a very severe drug addiction.

When he was normal,

he would be, kind, easy-going...

But then, you know, like,

if Aaron took a Xanax, it was like facing demon.

Being around a drug addict is so painful

and really caused a lot of drifts in the family.

But when Aaron got sober,

the whole family came together.

[Jen] Nick finally thought, "Maybe I'll have a chance now

to have a relationship with my brother.

He's cleaned up, he's doing good."

[Lina] Aaron loved his family.

Like, when him and Nick started talking again,

he was like, ecstatic

and spent so much time with Angel, his twin sister.

He was just happy, he was healthy.

And then he went back on tour.

[crowd cheering]

[Lina] He said, "I need Xanax.

I'm on tour and tour's so stressful."

And end of July, he relapsed.

He would go live on Instagram.

Boom. I know how to lure you in.

It's so easy. Look at 2.5... 4,000 people here.

[Lina] He bought, like, five rifles.

You always gotta stay strapped.

[Lina] He was going live actually holding rifles,

telling people he's the Joker.

[Aaron] I'm the Joker.

I'm not playing your game. You're playing mine.

And it just got worse and worse and worse.

I'm not one to [bleep] with.

[Lina] Angel and Nick were really trying to get him help.

So and then Nick goes on Twitter.

Ooh, if you need my help... Shut the [bleep] up, bro.

[Jen] Nick called me very concerned about his brother.

And he started crying.

And he told me about how Aaron had been acting.

How erratic he was being.

[Lina] A few weeks after he relapsed,

Aaron started talking about his visions...

of killing Lauren, Nick's wife, and children.

I was afraid.

Me and Angel went to the police.

There was no help.

But they said, "Well, if you file a restraining order,

by law, the police are gonna have to take the guns away."

[Jen] Nick felt hopeless.

All of a sudden, you've gone from being a loving brother

to someone who has to protect themselves.

It was like watching

a roller coaster become unhinged.

You can't stop the ride.

[speaking indistinctly]

[Jen] All you can do is just sit there

and pray that it comes down and lands safely.

There's one right there.

I can't be silenced.

[cocks rifle]

I was not keeping track of Aaron Carter.

You know, we were both child stars

in that early 2000, sort of, teen pop frenzy.

But I was not aware of things reported

in the media prior to speaking to Aaron.

[line ringing]

[Melissa over phone] Hi, Aaron. How are you?

[Aaron over phone] I'm good. I'm good. I'm good.

Initially, there was a level of concern.

I said as much to Melissa.

But she found somebody that she could relate to.

[Melissa] He told me he believed me.

And he was just, like, "That's my brother."

Eventually we went live on Instagram together.

So don't imprison me

and expect me not to fight back.

He clearly suffered from extreme trauma,

and he's disclosing to me

extreme trauma.

I get... I get what you mean.

He expressed his support of me.

But then the next day,

Nick Carter and his sister, Angel,

filed restraining orders.

The media got a hold of it.

[reporter] Well, Nick Carter says

he took out the restraining order

because Aaron threatened to kill his pregnant wife.

It was an absolute circus.

I felt that it was a strategic action

taken to retaliate against Aaron

for saying those things about his brother.

And for speaking to me publicly

on his Instagram platform.

And that's how Aaron felt.

The talks of the restraining order

been around for a while.

It had to do nothing with her.

It had everything to do

with, literally, getting Aaron help

and getting the guns away.

[reporter] The claims of increased bizarre behavior

has his family worried.

[reporter] Nick says that he still loves Aaron,

and he hopes he gets the proper treatment he needs.

In my experience, that family has always been in and out of these,

these, these epic feuds with, with one another.

But I had felt inside that Aaron

was being genuine in his support.

Aaron was on Instagram live quite a bit

and he had reached out and just said,

"You know, like, I really want to, like,

publicly support you.

Give you a platform to speak on this."

Everybody, Ashley, unfortunately, when she was 15

was raped by my brother

in the Florida Keys and...

This was... this was huge.

I am here for you

and I have got these women's back

and any women who have been abused or hurt,

I am here to fight for you,

and I will [bleep] fight for you and I will win.

[Ashley] It meant a lot to me and I was appreciative.

But at the same time, I also I felt bad

because I knew he was about to be attacked.

[Melissa] I told him. I said,

"Aaron, they're going to come after you."

I've been through it.

I've seen it.

I've experienced it.

But nobody can prepare anybody,

even Aaron Carter, for what followed.

[Aaron] I stand up for women,

and then all of a sudden this starts happening,

and every time I talk about it, more and more.

Wait, you're Nick Carter's brother

from the Backstreet Boys?

People were in his live streams,

in his chats saying things

to purposely upset him or to get him to lash out.

It got worse and worse and worse as time went on.

Labeled me a pedophile and put me in prison.

[bleep] are you talking about?

That's rude.

Come on, show your face.

Are you hiding like a troll under a bridge?

I'm basically, like, defending myself,

and it's, like, putting myself in danger.

"Aaron Charles Carter, your time is coming."

I was worried about him as someone

who saw him coming up when he was very young,

and all of a sudden he's doing appearances

and he's got face tattoos.

-You've got some new ink on your face... -Yeah.

-And your neck. -Medusa is my protector.

If you want to come at me with some negativity,

my Medusa will stare you in the eye and turn you into stone.

Aaron was a young man in distress.

It was obvious that he was really hurting.

You guys can thank all the smear campaign people.

Congratulations.

You guys won.

And watching Aaron, he was completely unpredictable at times.

He had told Melissa he would never take back

anything he said about her or Ashley,

but within three or four months,

guess what happens?

Do you want to say hi to Aaron Carter?

Good morning.

Molly Golightly, who, literally, after years

of harassing my daughter, somehow, magically appears

in Aaron's life

and purports to be his life coach.

[indistinct conversation]

Melissa Schuman, in my opinion,

based upon after bringing her into the black web,

was never raped.

When Aaron started interacting

publicly with Molly Golightly

and he was recanting his support of me,

I wasn't mad.

Aaron was the biggest target at this point.

I think Aaron thought it would stop the harassment

if he just did this.

The validity behind what she has been doing

is not valid. There is none.

But to be very honest,

that harassment really didn't go away.

Like, everyone's so mean to me.

And now that I'm fighting back, here they come.

[Jerry] But this alliance between Melissa and Aaron

openly communicating, were shut off.

Aaron had very thin skin.

And I think Aaron was super lonely.

The people on the Internet,

though they were unkind to him,

they were company.

[Melanie] My name is Melanie Martin

and I was Aaron Carter's fiancée.

You are beautiful.

You are gorgeous.

You are smart.

[Melanie] Aaron and I met on Instagram in late 2019.

He was just so genuine, silly, passionate and fun.

When I first met him,

he was taking his medication normally.

[scatting]

But I noticed a change fairly early.

[Gwen Cataranzo] Unfortunately, with addiction,

it's an illness that... it's very hard to beat.

And Aaron and Melanie had a turbulent relationship,

as he did with most people.

[Melanie] He was, you know,

in a constant battle with his family,

and he kind of didn't

really explain that to me when I first met him.

And I didn't pay attention as much as I should have.

I just kept on thinking, "We can do this.

We love each other enough."

[Aaron] All right, so there's the little 12-week-old.

[Melanie] And then my pregnancy happened.

[Aaron] Mmm-hmm.

[Mark] He would call me periodically,

and he was so excited about this child.

And said, you know,

"Hey, I'm gonna get my life straight.

I want to be a good dad.

And I'm gonna change everything."

Unfortunately, it just got really stressful.

He was more invested in the Internet

versus our relationship.

You got a lot of negativity

from going live and social media.

You're just constantly lying

and manipulating and all of that,

and it kind of makes you a bad person.

The bullying that he endured was horrific.

[Melanie] People calling his concerts and canceling his events.

YouTubers were calling in restaurants,

trying to get us taken out of the restaurant.

[Melanie] He was so bothered by it

that he was spending all of his money

on private investigators.

I am a 24-year state licensed private detective.

I was hired by Aaron Carter.

He told me that he was the victim of harassment.

Somebody shot and killed a [bleep] dead bird

and threw it on my porch.

And he wanted some help getting it to stop.

It appears a lot of this stuff was from a YouTube streamer

that goes by the name of "Ganval."

Don't be a bitch, Aaron.

[Jennifer] Ganval calls himself

Aaron Carter's arch nemesis.

A [bleep] washed up duster. Don't you have a...

[Jennifer] Almost every single video that was on his channel

was Aaron.

If you go to his Twitter,

a lot of the posts are directed towards Aaron.

Ganval has a Discord server.

One of the main subjects

that they talk about is Aaron Carter.

Troll the [bleep] out of this scum piece of [bleep].

Aaron, you're pathetic.

And he sounds like a [bleep] schizophrenic lunatic.

I understand that you're mentally, like, delusional

but are you [bleep]?

I said the baby should be euthanized.

Aaron is live streaming and Aaron sees everything.

You just threatened me with physical violence.

[indistinct conversation]

[Jennifer] It was like psychological warfare.

[indistinct overlapping conversations]

[Aaron] They're gonna kill me.

[Jennifer] And Aaron believed that his family was behind it.

My brother. Clearly, he's doing it.

Lauren Kitt. Clearly, she's doing it.

It only started when I [bleep] became a voice for rape victims.

For people who got raped.

[Jennifer] And then, I found out that there was

footage of Ganval doing a live stream

with Lauren Kitt Carter.

Nick Carter's wife.

-Hey. -It's nice to finally meet you.

I've been with my husband now for 12 years,

and this is something I've dealt with for 12 years.

[Jennifer] Why would his sister in-law

be online with an individual that spends his days

trying to troll and harass Aaron?

It didn't make sense.

I don't know my brother-in-law anymore.

My husband and his sister and our family don't know--

Are you trying to say I caused...

[Jennifer] But unfortunately, there was more.

You guys aren't gonna believe me,

and I'll show you if you want.

But this is real.

[Jennifer] There's actual live footage of Ganval

when he received a donation made by Lauren Kitt Carter.

After I found out that there was donated money,

now I believe they did want to silence Aaron.

Now do you believe me?

Now? Now? Now do you believe me?