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Aaron and Nick Carter’s troubled relationship among the subjects of a new documentary.

“Fallen Idols,” a new Investigation Discovery documentary, tracks Nick Carter and his younger brother Aaron Carter’s rise to fame.

Nick, born in 1980, and Aaron Carter, born in 1987, both were pop stars in their own right, but their legacies were complicated by controversy.

Many of the the Carter children struggled with the effects of fame and substance abuse. Of the five children born to Jane and Robert Carter, only two survive today. Nick Carter has been open about alcohol use. His younger siblings Aaron Carter, Bobbie Jean Carter and Leslie Carter died of drug-related causes.

In his 2013 memoir “Facing the Music and Living to Talk About It", Nick Carter said the trouble started, and persisted, from a childhood home environment defined by “stress and lack of nurturing.”

“The turmoil and drama never seemed to end with my family. Havoc ruled most of the time, and we all paid a price for it. Because most of us couldn’t handle it well, it ultimately drove us apart,” he wrote.

For much of their adult life, Nick and Aaron Carter were publicly at loggerheads, as the documentary shows. Read on for an overview of their relationship and controversies over the years.

Nick Carter declined to comment on the documentary. TODAY.com reached out to Nick Carter for comment and has not heard back at the time of publication.

Early days

Nick Carter was born, along with his younger sister Bobbie Jean, in Jamestown, New York, per Nick Carter’s memoir. 

Their apartment was above the Yankee Rebel bar owned by their parents and grandmother, all of whom were “big drinkers.”

The family moved to Tampa, Florida when Nick Carter was 6, where his family bought and maintained a nursing home. His younger siblings, sister Leslie and twins Aaron and Angel, were born in Florida.

In his memoir, Nick Carter describes his upbringing as “incredibly chaotic,” and an environment where “going to college and getting an education” weren’t priorities. The best times in their childhood was “when (his parents) drank and partied because at least then they weren’t fighting.”

“My siblings and I weren’t particularly well-nurtured as kids. I’m sure our parents loved us, they didn’t demonstrate their love in ways that typically make kids feel safe and secure,” Nick Carter wrote in his memoir.

Nick Carter said he was his family’s “fixer” and later “financier.” Angel Carter Conrad, in an interview on “Dr. Keith” in 2006, called him “the best brother ever.”

Leaving home and joining Backstreet Boys was a “chance to change the course of (his) life,” Nick Carter said, but he took a “growing pattern of self-destructive behaviors” with him.

The Carters’ parents divorced in 2003.

'90s and 2000s: Nick and Aaron Carter’s rise to fame

Nick Carter found fame first, signing on with the Backstreet Boys in 1993 at just age 13, making him the youngest member of the group.

His mom “decided (he) was destined for stardom” the first time she heard him singing, per his memoir.

Before he was 10, they were hitting “all the talent competitions and auditions for theme parks, musicals, dinner-theater and commercials.” When he was “selected to join the Backstreet Boys,” it felt like “winning the lottery.

The Backstreet Boys was one of the biggest bands of the 1990s, selling over 100 million records worldwide and their first 10 albums reaching the Top 10 on Billboard 200. They have earned nine Grammy nominations and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013. 

Aaron Carter released his self-titled debut album in 1997 when he was only 9 and he “earned millions from albums and concert tours,” Nick Carter wrote in his memoir.

In the documentary, the brothers’ oldest cousin John Spaulding speculates that Aaron Carter’s ascent could be attributed to Nick Carter firing his parents as his manager at 18. “Jane and Bob were focused on money. They took the responsibility from Nick and placed it on Aaron at a very young age,” he said.

A family friend credited as Jen in the documentary said she overheard their parents comparing Aaron Carter to his older brother. “You’re never going to be as good as your brother,” Jen said. “That ended up being a massive chip on Aaron’s shoulder.” 

Aaron Carter’s tour manager Mark Giovi said, “(Aaron) didn’t like to be reminded he wasn’t at the same level as his brother.”

Nick Carter, according to the family friend Jen, had “no idea this was happening in the background.”

“One minute Aaron was really happy and wanted to see him. The next minute, ‘You’re my competition,’” she said.

2002 - 2005: The Carter brothers face public difficulties

In his memoir, Nick Carter described his early adulthood as a “downward spiral,” which was made public in 2002, the same year he released a solo album. He was arrested in Tampa, Florida for allegedly failing to follow police officers’ orders to leave a nightclub after a scuffle.

He was charged with a misdemeanor of resisting a law enforcement officer without violence, but released on his own recognizance.

Carter, per reporting at the time, denied wrongdoing. “I truly believe my celebrity motivated the officer to arrest me,” he said. "I am certain that after a full investigation of the facts my name will be cleared.”

Charges were dismissed after he completed community service, as Entertainment Weekly reported.

He wrote in his memoir, “I didn’t learn from it. I just kept compounding my problems by continuing the same unacceptable behavior and messing up … I rolled on, repeating the same self-destructive pattern for quite a while.”

Nick Carter was ordered into an alcohol education program in 2005 after pleading “guilty” to a driving under the influence charge; he was placed on three years’ probation and had his driving privileges restricted, per AP. 

In 2003, Aaron Carter, at 16, entered into a public feud with their mother, who was then his manager, accusing her of stealing $100,000. “I feel betrayed by my own mother,” he said. He also filed for legal emancipation.

In a statement, per Billboard, Jane Carter said she had been accused of “false allegations designed to hurt me, my family and my son’s career. I am confident that the truth will come to light in a court of law.”

A month later, the situation was resolved. “All financial misunderstandings have been resolved between Aaron and his parents,” family lawyer Scott Salomon said in a statement, per TODAY. 

“I don’t know exactly what happened in Aaron’s case,” Nick Carter wrote in his memoir.

2006: Nick and Aaron Carter get into a public fight

While shooting the first and only season of “House of Carters,” which brought the five siblings under one roof for the first time in a decade, Nick and Aaron Carter got into a fistfight.

The fight was sparked by Nick Carter wanting Aaron Carter to turn down the music after a certain amount of time.

Nick Carter called the show “disastrous” in his memoir. The show “laid bare all of our family dysfunctions” and “only made them worse.” He said the show was his “ambitious attempt to bring the warring kids in (his) family together again as adults.”

Aaron Carter, he wrote, was “struggling to find direction” and “associating with some really negative people.”

Nick Carter’s intentions to heal the family failed, he said. He said the fight was clarifying: “After Aaron and I bottled it out one day, I realized again that people don’t change until they want to change.”

2012: The brothers’ sister Leslie dies

Early in 2011, Aaron Carter entered rehab at the Betty Ford Center in California “to heal some emotional and spiritual issues he was dealing with,” TODAY reported. He stayed a month.

A year later, Leslie Carter, who had suffered from mental illness and depression, was found unresponsive in their father’s home in New York on January 31, 2012. She was 25 years old. 

Later it was revealed that she had died of an overdose with multiple prescription medications found near her body. She had married in 2008 and given birth to her daughter in 2011.

Nick Carter missed her funeral because he was scheduled to perform a concert on that date, TODAY reported at the time — but his memoir told a different story.

“It breaks my heart to even think about it now, but I did not go to Leslie’s funeral. I was in New York City when she died. I couldn’t get on the plane and go up there because some members of my family were blaming me for her death. It hurt me so badly to hear them say things like that. It really stung me,” he said.

He added he “struggles “every day with the emotional aspects of losing (his) sister to drugs and alcohol.”

This impacted Aaron and Nick Carter's relationship, per Fallen Idols".

The family friend Jen said in the documentary, ”Once Aaron found out that Nick wasn’t coming to Aaron’s funeral, the first thing that Jane did was tell Aaron, ‘He doesn’t love you.’ That’s not the truth. Aaron became very upset and aggressive, hitting Jane and having her against the wall. It was an insane moment to be in.”

She described it as a turning point: “After Leslie’s funeral, it got really dark. I was really concerned for Nick and for Aaron.”

2013: ‘Reconciliation’, Nick Carter says

By 2013, when Nick Carter wrote his memoir, he and his brother had reconciled.

“I’ve actually been able to patch things up with Aaron recently and that feels great. Our reconciliation never would have happened if I’d kept trying to change him instead of myself,” he wrote.

May 2017: The Carter siblings’ father dies

The siblings’ father, Robert Carter, died in 2017.

Nick Carter tweeted that he was “heartbroken to share the news” of his father's death, and asked that “our privacy be respected at this difficult time.”

Aaron Carter also tweeted about the death, writing (via Variety), “My heart is completely shattered. I’m in shock and I loved my dad so much. #RIP DADDY I Love You.”

July 2017: Aaron Carter is arrested and the brothers square off

In July 2017, 29-year-old Aaron Carter was arrested in Georgia driving under the influence and drug possession, along with his then girlfriend.

On top of the DUI charge, Carter was arrested for possession of marijuana and drug-related objects. Parker was also arrested for marijuana and drug-related object possession, and additionally faces a misdemeanor charge for obstruction. He was released on a bond.

Nick Carter took to Twitter to reach out to his brother in 2017, writing, “To my brother: I love u no matter what & if u feel the need to reach for help, I am here and willing to help you get better.”

He also wrote, “Family isn’t always easy, we’re all here for you.”

In a since deleted tweet, Aaron Carter responded, per People, “If my own blood truly cared about my well-being, why wouldn’t he call me directly and have a conversation instead of making this about him through a very public forum?”

“That’s not cool at all to use me for his PR and kick me while I am down. I love my family despite it through thick and thin.”

Aaron Carter checked into rehab in September 2017 and reflected on the experience during a 2019 appearance on "The Doctors," speaking directly to Nick Carter.

“After going to rehab, nobody came.I got a public tweet from my brother. You live in Las Vegas. Three hours away. Get your a-- in the car and come see your brother,” he said. “You need to make amends to me. You need to apologize to me. I haven’t even met my nephew.”

Aaron Carter pleaded no contest and the charges were dropped in 2021, the Northeastern Georgian reported.

November 2017: Nick Carter is accused of sexual assault

Former girl group Dream member Melissa Schuman wrote a blog post in November 2017 saying Nick Carter had assaulted her when she was 18 in 2003.

Since that time, Schuman and two other women have filed lawsuits against Carter: Shannon Ruth in 2022 and a defendant listed as A.R. in 2023.

Nick Carter has denied any wrongdoing related to his accusers. In February 2023, he filed a counterclaim against Ruth and listed Schuman as a defendant. He added A.R. to the complaint as a defendant in January 2024.

The filing alleges that Melissa Schuman and her father Jerome Schuman brought Ruth “into their scheme and groomed and coached” her to say she was sexually assaulted by the Backstreet Boys member. 

Schuman and Ruth deny Nick Carter’s allegations in the docuseries. 

Ruth says, “Nobody manipulated me or forced me or planned out any conspiracy or anything else.” 

Schuman says that she is suing because she wants her own due process and thought that it would never be a possibility until the statute of limitations changed in California civil court.

Proceedings are still ongoing.

September 2019: Nick Carter takes out a restraining order against his brother

In September 2019, Nick Carter said he and his sister Angel Carter Conrad took out a restraining order against Aaron Carter.

Leading up to the restraining order, Aaron Carter had been making Instagram Live videos. In some, he was seen loading guns. In others, he talked about his brother’s sexual assault allegations and interviewed accuser Melissa Schuman.

Nick Carter explained why he was filing a restraining order in a statement posted to Twitter.

“In light of Aaron’s increasingly alarming behavior and his recent confession that he harbors thoughts and intentions of killing my pregnant wife and unborn child, we were left with no choice but to take every measure possible to protect ourselves and our family,” he wrote alongside the hashtags #mentalhealth, #GunControlNow and #GunControl. “We love our brother and truly hope he gets the proper treatment he needs before any harm comes to himself or anyone else.”

Aaron Carter confirmed the restraining order in tweets of his own.

"So my brother just got a restraining order against me. And I was just served lol,” he wrote.

He denied wrongdoing, writing in a tweet, “I am astounded at the accusations being made against me and I do not wish harm to anyone, especially my family.”

By that point, Aaron Carter said he and his brother hadn’t seen each other in “four years.” In another tweet he wrote, “Take care Nick Carter. We’re done for life.”

2022: Aaron Carter dies

Aaron Carter died in 2022 at the age of 34.

His cause of death was revealed months later as accidental drowning due to the effects of inhaling difluoroethane and taking alprazolam, a generic form of Xanax.

Difluoroethane is “a gas commonly used as propellant in the air spray cleaners for electronic devices that can induce feelings of euphoria when inhaled,” the coroner report states.

The manner of death as an accident.

Aaron Carter's son, Prince, was just under 1 when his father died.

The day after his death was made public, Nick Carter wrote a message on Instagram.

“My heart is broken. Even though my brother and I have had a complicated relationship, my love for him has never ever faded. I have always held on to the hope that he would somehow, someday want to walk a healthy path and eventually find the help that he so desperately needed. Sometimes we want to blame someone or something for a loss, but the truth is that addiction and mental illness is the real villain here. I will miss my brother more than anyone will ever know. I love you Chizz. Now you can finally have the peace you could never find here on earth….God, Please take care of my baby brother.”

The day after Aaron Carter’s death, Nick Carter was scheduled to perform with a reunited Backstreet Boys. They honored Aaron Carter on stage. Nick Carter wept visibly onstage, per footage from the show.

“That night, it was tough to get up on stage. There’s the old saying the show must go on, that’s been with us for years, but that night, I didn’t know what to expect, I didn’t know what was going to come from it, getting on that stage. Getting the reaction from the fans, it was definitely comforting, and it meant a lot to me,” he later told Extra.

2023: The brothers’ oldest sister dies

On December 23, 2023, Bobbie Jean Carter died at 41. 

“To my older sister Bobbie,” Angel Carter Conrad, who is Aaron Carter’s twin, began in the caption. “You had a great sense of humor, and a lively spirit. Growing up, I was your baby, and you were my best friend. Life wasn’t fair to you, that I know. Sometimes, it feels like you didn’t have a shot, no matter what.”

Nick summed up thoughts about all of the problems his family had experienced in the past years in his memory post on Instagram, writing, “It may take a lifetime to fully process the loss my family has endured over the years — most recently, with the sudden passing of our sister Bobbie Jean. I am completely heartbroken. Thank you for all your love and kind words. We are reminded again that life is precious, fleeting and to cherish the time we have with the ones we love. I know she is finally at peace with God. I love you BJ.”

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