Original subtitles

[engine revving]

[slow instrumental music playing]

[Melanie] Things were good with Aaron and me.

Before we had Prince,

we were working on the clothing line together.

He was doing music.

[Melanie] When Prince was born,

Aaron was doing great.

He was making videos.

[Melanie] He would tell me

that he was so tired as a child.

He said, "I don't want that for Prince.

I want him to live a normal life."

I would cherish when he would just go on the piano

and play his music.

And he was so real.

He loved to show people what he could do.

All he dreamed of was having a family.

And he was happy since the day his son was born.

[Prince] Da-da.

[somber instrumental music playing]

[theme music playing]

During the time that I worked for Aaron,

Melanie and Aaron were concerned

for the safety of their son.

When Melanie was in the hospital giving birth to Prince,

I was watching Ganval online

making threats.

So, I may have somebody on the payroll

at a particular hospital.

So, I'm waiting on getting potential,

like, umbilical blood

from Melanie's, um, pregnancy.

Aaron was like, "We need to be extra careful."

This Ganval guy is this really vile person.

[Jennifer] There was this particular day

where Aaron was live streaming,

and he ripped open this box.

Oh, look at what someone sent me just now.

A can of duster.

You could literally just see, like the life,

like drain out of him.

Right there.

-That's what I went to rehab for. -I hope he relapses.

That would be awesome.

It was beyond the point of just hate online, it was...

threats to his well-being and his family.

I saw through social media

what he was going through.

And then he texted me

on December 6, 2021.

[Jennifer] He would say his brother started this smear campaign

because Aaron stood up for

alleged sexual assault victims.

[Aaron] Say hi to Melissa, baby.

Say hi, Melissa Schuman.

[Jennifer] Lauren Kitt Carter

has definitely engaged online.

I got a DM, um,

with a threat from Aaron,

saying that he was going to have my kids taken away.

But, at no time

did I ever see any indication

of Nick Carter harassing Aaron.

And I told Aaron that, but, you know,

every single direction, people were coming at him.

There's a lot of people here that are trying to set me up.

People would even tell him, "Melanie's talking to Ganval."

Which, you know, would cause paranoia.

[Aaron] Melanie! Get the hell out of my house!

Get out of my house!

[Melissa] When we were in communication,

the mental and emotional turmoil that I saw...

didn't stop.

[somber music playing]

[Melanie] Things with our relationship just didn't get better.

It almost got worse.

The more that I would say he was, like,

under the influence,

the more he would fabricate things

and say she's doing this and she's doing that.

[police siren wailing]

He called the cops on me.

Then made a fake report about me.

And then I had to call on him.

I don't want to talk about this.

[siren wailing]

They were concerned about the fighting,

his addiction and everything.

So, we lost custody of our son.

All right, well, this is probably the last time he'll be in my arms.

Thanks.

I think that's when he was suffering the most.

And Prince went with my mom.

The court wanted Aaron to be sober.

His main focus was supposed to be to get sober

and to get custody back of Prince.

I was there to help him through it.

But...

one day, he said, "It's over,"

and he said, "Please don't come back."

Melanie and I are over.

[Scaachi] It was hard to tell exactly what was going on

with Aaron on social media.

♪ Mom told me Don't you ever trust 'em ♪

♪ Mom told me Don't you ever trust 'em ♪

[Scaachi] But he didn't have custody of his son,

he was estranged from his family,

and he was not sober.

[Aaron] I feel bad for you, like really bad.

I like...

Dudes knocking off...

[Scaachi] Melanie called law enforcement.

[Gwen] We were all just trying to get him

the help he needed.

But he would inhale a computer duster,

and the span of that, making you high,

is very short, a minute,

maybe two, three tops.

And so, by the time law enforcement had got to him,

he seemingly was fine.

I was calling his family, saying, "Hey, this is serious."

Like, Aaron really needs help.

-[cell phone ringing] -His sister, Angel, reached out to him.

And we all just really were trying to make him see the light of his addictions.

But he was in full denial.

"Bro, you've been online for hours."

And so?

[Ashley] We weren't talking on a regular basis,

but I know around that time that...

a lot was going on with him

and he had been on No Jumper.

[Jennifer] He alluded that it was going to be big

and everybody needs to tune in.

Unfortunately, I tried to play God

and stand up for

alleged rape victims of Nick.

Okay?

And to my brother,

I would like to apologize and say I love you

and I'm sorry.

You know, I shouldn't have done that.

Do you now think that those stories were not true?

I do not. I do not think they were true at all.

[Jennifer] He went on that show to publicly apologize to his brother.

[Melissa] Aaron recanted his support of me

and the other survivors.

But what bothered me

was seeing the state that he was in.

[Jennifer] Aaron was extremely under the influence,

and that was horrific to watch.

So I'm going to try to put it in a time lapse...

[stuttering]

What am I trying to say?

[Jennifer] After I saw that footage,

I said to my husband,

"He'll be dead within a week."

And I said that because

Aaron was terrorized for three years.

All he wanted was for it to stop.

He had nowhere to go.

[siren wailing]

[siren wailing]

[Melanie] When it happened, I came right away.

There was an ambulance,

and the investigators were there.

Then all the TV people were there.

I didn't want to be on camera

hysterically crying, freaking out.

It was just too much for me.

[male reporter] Fiancée, Melanie Martin,

a social media influencer and model,

arrived at the home to talk with investigators.

[Melanie] And then the public found out.

They wanted to watch drama.

The music world is mourning the death of singer, Aaron Carter.

The 34-year-old was found dead

in his California home yesterday.

[Scaachi] The Carters' pain has been breaking news

over and over again.

But his death was so devastating.

"Aaron Carter was found unresponsive in his bathtub.

After inhalation of compressed gas and intake of Xanax,

the manner of death is an accident."

[eerie music playing]

[Melissa] My dad is the one who told me that...

Aaron died.

I was in shock.

Aaron's support and what he did for me

was something I still have a hard time

even really articulating.

[somber music playing]

And he and I definitely trauma bonded.

It was probably the basis of our friendship, relationship...

however you want to call it.

I mean, still, to this day, I think about him all the time.

[Ashley] My heart just sunk.

Because I knew...

just how tormented and what a struggle his life was.

And I'm sad that he never got,

really got a chance to really,

get his, you know, life together.

-[somber music playing] -[motor revving]

[John] I didn't believe it at first.

And I immediately called Angel and asked her if it was true.

And she said yes and, uh,

my heart sank.

I wish he had been around much longer.

I wish he had been able to see his kid grow up.

I wish he had a lot more time.

Melanie regained custody of her son with Aaron in December of 2022.

And now Melanie has to...

protect Aaron's legacy,

as the father of the child that they have,

who will only know their parent

through archival footage.

Who's that?

♪ We're two brothers Me and you ♪

♪ Each with an opposite Point of view ♪

[Scaachi] Aaron was on Sesame Street with his brother,

and it's a brief glimpse at the version

of Aaron that I imagine she'd want her son to know.

-Aaron and Nick Carter argue? -Sure, Elmo.

-I mean, we're brothers, we argue sometimes. -They do?

Yeah, brothers argue.

Sisters argue.

-Brothers and sisters argue, it happens sometimes. -Really?

[Melanie] It reminds me of Prince.

The smile I see, his laughter.

That's why I had that hope.

Because I saw, you know,

what our family could have been.

[Scaachi] After Aaron died, Nick made a public statement.

They had so much to be mad at each other about.

But there was a lot of love.

[crowd cheering]

[man] We lost one of our family members yesterday.

[crowd clapping]

[Jen] Nick was with the Backstreet Boys,

honoring Aaron

the day after he passed away,

while they were on their DNA tour.

And the fans recorded little bits and pieces of it.

It's very challenging to watch.

I think Nick, myself, Angel,

I think we all feel a little bit of responsibility,

thinking that we could have done more.

But Aaron needed to want to fix these things with himself.

It can be said that these kids never stood a chance.

Aaron definitely never stood a chance.

[Jen] Their life played out like a soap opera for everybody.

It's been one thing after the next.

Jane continues to pit Nick against Aaron on Facebook...

even after death.

That's how it works with her.

[dramatic music playing]

[John] It's hard breaking that cycle.

I don't think their sister, Bobbie, is going to have that wake-up call.

She's had her run-ins with drugs a couple of times.

She overdosed,

and it took nine shots of Narcan to bring her back.

Everybody in the family has tried to help her.

But if she's not willing to help herself,

there's nothing else that can be done.

[somber instrumental music playing]

[somber instrumental music playing]

I hope that we are on the end

of seeing people in the family die.

We don't need anymore death.

It's too much tragedy to happen to one family.

[Scaachi] I think addiction is complicated,

and I think childhood trauma is complicated.

Aaron spoke very openly about the issues he was having.

Some of us listened to it.

A lot of us just made fun of him.

Overwhelmingly, we just ignored it.

Which is true for a lot of people in this story.

I mean, a lot of these women

have been saying things about Nick for a long time.

And similarly, we weren't listening.

[Melissa] For years, people continued to defame me,

and lie about me, and make all sorts of claims.

But I'm still here.

I'm still speaking up.

I kept hoping somehow people will see the truth.

And then finally,

somebody decided to hold him accountable.

[man] Good morning.

A little mic check.

One, two, three, four, five, six...

Fifteen?

Even though I'm autistic and live with cerebral palsy,

I believe that nothing has affected me more

or had a more lasting impact on my life

than what Nick Carter did and said to me.

[sniffles] Sorry.

[Scaachi] This was the first woman

to file a suit in the court of law.

And when the news broke, it hit differently.

[reporter] The plaintiff, Shannon "Shay" Ruth,

who has autism and cerebral palsy,

sued Carter for sexual battery

and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

My name is Shay.

I was born and raised Mormon

in a small town outside of Olympia.

I was very...

uh...

I guess sheltered would be the word.

I have mild spastic cerebral palsy,

and I was diagnosed

with autism when I was 13.

Like the amount that I can process at one time

and how long it takes to process things,

it's different for me.

In 2001, the Backstreet Boys were coming to the Tacoma Dome

and one of my only friends,

her name was Eleanor,

had asked if I could go.

I was 17 years old when I went to the concert.

[somber instrumental music playing]

After the concert, Eleanor and I,

we were waiting outside.

And there were other people around

and they were wanting to,

you know, get an autograph.

Nick came up to me and he...

basically invited me to take a tour

of the bus with him.

I don't even really think

I even knew or understood

what was going on.

If that makes sense.

I walked with Nick.

And then we just got on the bus.

Nick got me some cranberry juice.

And he was just asking me different questions,

like, "Do you have a boyfriend?"

And after a while,

like, even though I'd never tasted alcohol before,

I was like, "This tastes funny.

This tastes weird."

And he said something about how it was special VIP juice.

I remember feeling dizzy and sick.

So he had me go in the bathroom.

Nick always had it so that he was behind me,

blocking the door.

He closed the bathroom door...

and he asked me to get on my knees.

And he pulled down his pants.

And he pulled out his penis

and he told me...

to put it in my mouth.

And I'm sitting there crying, and he's screaming at me.

"Stop crying. Stop crying.

Stop crying."

And I didn't understand in my mind,

how you could be that person

that was sitting there talking to me so calmly,

like, not even ten minutes ago,

to this, like, screaming at me.

[pensive music playing]

It was so mentally overwhelming and confusing for me.

There was a bed in the back of the bus.

He had me go to the bed,

and pulls down my pants.

And then, he puts his mouth on me.

I remember saying no, and every time I would say no,

he would get very upset,

and he would get more aggressive or forceful,

and pushed me down harder.

[suspenseful music playing]

And I realized that I was trapped,

and that there was no way I was gonna get out of there

unless I did what he wanted me to do.

-[suspenseful music playing] -[sniffles]

I remember afterwards,

I had told him,

that I was gonna tell people everything he did.

And he starts screaming at me.

And he calls me a retarded bitch.

And...

He grabs my arm.

I honestly felt like my arm was gonna break in half with the force that he used.

He just said that if I told anybody, that I would go to jail.

He would just say he didn't know who I was,

and that he had the power to do that

because he was Nick Carter.

I just... I was terrified.

And I was just like, "Okay.

I won't tell. Just let me go. Just... just let me go."

[eerie music playing]

I was terrified.

And I kept pushing, and pushing, and pushing it down.

I didn't even remember everything until later,

because I just...

was good at

stuffing it down.

[acoustic music playing]

[Dr. Valliere] Sexual assault isn't something that a lot of people

want to experience and memorize.

So, it may be hard to recall, unless you have triggers.

[bottle clicking]

You like that one?

No. Okay.

I didn't start confronting

things that happened till I was in my 30s.

This one or this one?

This one? Okay, good pick.

I remembered him screaming at me, and the bruises on my arm.

And kneeling in the bathroom.

And like, little flashbacks and bits and pieces.

But I... I couldn't quite put all the pieces together.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Dr. Valliere] I have never evaluated Shay,

but what triggers a victim to look back,

and understand what had had happened to them

can be very, very complicated.

In some cases, it's a safe and supportive community

that allows us the courage to come forward.

[Shay] There were other survivors of Nick coming together,

and so I reached out to them.

[dramatic music playing]

[Melissa Schuman] When I was introduced to Shay,

she was not introduced to me as a sexual assault survivor.

Shay had a lot of things to process,

and so I encouraged her to go into therapy.

It was my psychologist who really helped me

be able to understand.

[Melissa] Shay's memories,

as she disclosed to me, trickled in.

[Shay] I didn't remember everything until 2020,

but I sent a DM in 2019.

At that time, from what I remembered,

I felt like what Melissa and Ashley had experienced

was much worse than what I had experienced.

And I filed the police report before I remembered everything.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Dr. Valliere] Sometimes victims can only tell

a part of the sexual assault

because that's all they're capable of

at that specific moment.

[suspenseful music playing]

I believe that people

need to be held accountable for their choices.

And I came forward with a lawsuit in December 2022.

[Mark Boskovich] According to disabilityjustice.org,

83% of women with disabilities will be sexually assaulted

during their lifetimes.

And just 3% of those assaults will be reported.

[Shay] I think about how many other people

with even just autism who are nonverbal,

and I felt like I had to be a voice

for the ones who don't have one.

I hope that by coming forward today,

many other women will find the courage to also come forward.

After my press conference,

I was sobbing.

-Good. You did good. -[sobbing]

-That was really hard. -I know.

[Shay] And it was only like, a couple hours after,

that somebody came up to me, and they're like, "Hey, you're on the news."

Turning now to developing news,

a lawsuit filed against singer, Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys...

[male reporter] Nick Carter is denying new allegations

that he raped a woman with autism and cerebral palsy

when she was a teenager.

[Shay] I didn't know how big it had gotten.

[Scaachi] It was breaking news.

And the timing of Shannon Ruth's lawsuit

could not have been worse for Nick.

He had just lost Aaron.

He's on tour with the Backstreet Boys,

and there was an ABC special

that they ended up pulling because of the lawsuit.

[female reporter] ABC will no longer air

its Backstreet Boys holiday special

after sexual assault allegations against band member, Nick Carter.

[Scaachi] The media started to report on that,

and then, it spins out from there.

When ABC canceled

A Very Backstreet Christmas special.

I was so upset.

And I tweeted at ABC and told them they were wrong.

They shouldn't have preemptively made judgment

without evidence.

Before Shannon Ruth sued Nick Carter,

there was some, you know, chatter

about the allegations against Nick.

But it wasn't like a big Me Too story.

And it did not impact his career at all.

But I think once ABC pulls that special,

it's maybe clear to the Carter camp,

they had to do something

to tell their version of the story.

[gripping instrumental music playing]

[Melissa] To my surprise,

Nick followed Shay's lawsuit with a counterclaim.

I was very confused when I saw the headline.

And I got on the phone with my attorney, and I'm like,

"Is he suing me?"

[suspenseful music playing]

[Scaachi] Nick Carter claims that Shay, in conjunction with Melissa,

and her father, had conspired to defame him publicly.

Nick is alleging that Melissa and her father, groomed Shay

to encourage her to make all these defamatory comments about Nick.

Nick also alleges that Melissa and her father

exploited his late brother, Aaron Carter,

[Jerry Schuman] We're added as co-defendants, with Shay,

alleging that there was some master conspiracy.

None of which is true.

[no audio]

[Shay] Nobody manipulated me, or forced me,

or planned out

any conspiracy or anything else.

[Jerry] We only have one reason we are doing what we are doing,

which is to attain justice.

[Melissa] I want my own due process.

I didn't think that would ever be an option for me.

Because the statute of limitations closed.

But then, the statute of limitation

changed in California Civil Court.

And as of January 2023,

I could finally file a lawsuit,

and attempt to hold him accountable.

[pensive music playing]

And so I did.

[intense music playing]

This litigation will go on in the civil courts for a long time.

At the same time, he's touring.

and he gave a brief interview

to Entertainment Tonight to promote his tour.

There is a legal process happening right now,

and I can't get into too many of the details.

But, you know, what I can say is that I'm really happy

with the way things are going.

[Scaachi] He doesn't give a lot of details,

but this is the first time

we've heard anything from him directly

about any of these allegations.

[Nick] Once it's all done, you know,

I look forward to finally talking about it.

Maybe that is his way of dealing with it.

Silence.

Because it surprises me that someone would accuse him of that.

But it doesn't surprise me that he's an easy target.

For me, it's... It's all money.

Because I've seen him.

I've seen how he treats girlfriends, non-girlfriends.

I've seen this man in front of me.

And someone like me who's...

you know, an SA survivor,

it's a problem for me.

And I've never seen that with Nick.

The family's been through so much.

So let the courts do their job.

Melissa and Shay both filed motions to have the counterclaim dismissed.

So Nick and his wife showed up at a hearing

to decide if the counterclaim could proceed.

[Melissa] I believe that his countersuit is meant to silence me.

If you're telling the truth,

it's not a defamation.

[Scaachi] Nick's legal team cites dozens of exhibits and affidavits.

[Nick's lawyer speaking]

It's everything from Twitter posts,

to a signed affidavit from his friend Tony,

who was there the night of the alleged assault.

[Nick's lawyer speaking]

This is like Sexual Assault Response Master Class.

And ultimately, the judge allowed Nick

to move forward with the counterclaim.

[suspenseful music playing]

-Thank you, Your Honor. -[defense lawyer] Thank you.

[intense music playing]

[calm music playing]

[Melissa] We know Nick's counterclaim is another way

to further destroy my credibility.

It's horrific, what's being said. I would agree.

But the fact of the matter is, truth is not on their side.

It is on our side.

And we took this on from the start. You and I together.

You definitely stood by me

and screamed from the rooftops.

And what Nick did to me

has impacted, not only my own life,

but my father's.

[Jerry] I'm strong enough to take it.

And I'm not going anywhere.

And I will see this through the end.

[Melissa] Speaking up is a very, very scary thing.

And it does come with a lot of risks.

But what he has done,

not just to me but to others, needs to stop.

So I hope that people start to see the pattern.

Like, this wasn't a one-off thing.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Scaachi] News broke that a third woman was suing Nick Carter.

[suspenseful music playing]

[suspenseful music playing]

[Ashley] I used to tell myself that I forgave him for what has happened.

But I...

I don't. I do not forgive him.

I'm angry.

And I feel that

Nick needs to be held responsible.

Back then, I felt like I had done my part to report it.

But the support was not there

in late 2003 for assault victims.

They were called liars.

You have to remember that was before Me Too

and I don't think we ever talked about consent.

Women came of age, I certainly did,

thinking this was part of what we have to deal with.

It's called Me Too,

because so many women have this story.

Young women today know better.

[Ashley] At least we're having the conversations now.

That's a step in the right direction.

[Scaachi] Ashley filed a lawsuit.

And once again, Nick and his team

are fighting back against these allegations in the media.

[male reporter 1] Carter has denied all of these allegations,

while his lawyer and his team deem it

simply ridiculous and malicious.

[male reporter 2] Lawyers for Carter tell 8 News Now

that the police found the accuser's claim, quote "meritless."

And that Carter looks forward to hearing their claims in court.

[Scaachi] You can see it in the coverage.

The tone has changed.

They're going no holds barred.

The court will make a decision on this case,

but the conversation will continue.

He's actively making money.

So there are people who are actively still making money off of him.

[crowd cheering]

[Melissa] There needs to be a reckoning in the music industry.

But it is really scary to dismantle dysfunction.

These men feel entitled to women.

Being attracted to them,

to getting whatever they want when they want.

Men in the music industry protect that power.

It's been that way for so long.

To force the music industry to change

in its entirety,

it would mean confronting people we love.

[Dave Holmes] Sometimes you can idolize somebody

to a point where it's unhealthy for them.

We objectified these people.

And we're all complicit in this machine

that our attention fed and fueled

[Kaya Jones] If you are not in a good centered place with good people around you,

fame can become extremely toxic.

Aaron's not here anymore.

With Nick,

it is part of why he is who he is.

I think we should hear what Nick has to say.

But we should definitely hear what these women have to say,

because if you genuinely are telling the truth,

it's all gonna come out.

[eerie music playing]

[Ashley] As I watch my kids grow,

you know, these, like,

little humans.

They were just innocent and...

You know, I looked back with myself, and I just...

That's when my world got tainted.

[intense music playing]

If I can

protect my kids,

from ever

getting robbed of their innocence.

That is the reason that I'm here.

[hopeful music playing]

[Shay] I know what a weight

it feels like to carry that around for so many years.

And I would just hope that

other survivors

can one day be free of that weight.

[Melissa] No way did I ever imagine myself being here five years later,

after speaking out, still fighting.

If I could write my future,

I just want to be free.

[hopeful music continues]