Where To Stream Fallen Idols (And 5 Nick & Aaron Carter Secrets It Reveals)

This article contains discussions of child abuse, sexual assault, and addiction.

A new documentary by Investigation Discovery called "Fallen Idols" is streaming on Max, and it reveals some seriously ugly things about pop stars Nick and Aaron Carter.

The brothers, who were both teen heartthrobs in the 1990s and early 2000s, are the subject of the docuseries spearheaded by executive producer Michael Hirschorn and showrunner Elissa Halperin, which investigates the accusations made against Nick and how his late brother Aaron handled it. (Aaron died suddenly on November 5, 2022, with his cause of death ruled as drowning in his bathtub; the younger Carter was using drugs at the time.) It's important to note that Nick declined to be interviewed for the docuseries and, in a statement shown onscreen said Nick "denied the allegations and questions his accusers' credibility."

So what new information surfaced in "Fallen Idols," and why did Hirschorn and Halperin decide to make a documentary like this — especially in the aftermath of "Quiet on Set," the Nickelodeon-focused docuseries that revealed horrible secrets about the kid's network? Hirschorn told The Hollywood Reporter that social media perceptions of both Nick and Aaron played a role. "We were very much struck by the degree to which, even eight years into #MeToo, so many women are fiercely refusing to believe that anything about their idols could be less than perfect," Hirschorn said, adding that he hopes viewers see "shades of gray" about the brothers. "I don't want to speak for all fans, but there's definitely a big component of that at play here, and it was a reminder of how personal our connections are to celebrities and music, particularly the ones we fell in love with as kids," Halperin said. With that in mind, here's what we learned from the four episodes of "Fallen Idols."

Apparently, Nick and Aaron Carter had an incredibly difficult upbringing thanks to their parents Robert and Jane Carter, as was revealed the pair's cousin John Spaulding (among others). An example: when Nick and Aaron's sister Leslie died at the age of 25 from a drug overdose, Spaulding says that Jane "blamed Nick for Leslie's death. She told Nick that he should've been there for her. He had the money — why didn't he do something?" As for Robert, Spaulding says that he once witnessed the father huffing paint — or inhaling paint to get high — with Aaron. "I don't know how Bob even got into doing that with his son," Spaulding said. 

Aaron, who appeared in a run of "Seussical" in 2001 when he was 13, experienced trauma from his parents related to that professional accomplishment, according to his former tour manager Mark Giovi. A"He did a great job, but it was grueling and he had six shows a week," Giovi said. "His family, I guess said they were gonna go on a family vacation when Aaron was done. He was very much looking forward to that." When the Carters went on vacation without Aaron, Giovi says the young boy "picked up a knife and put it to the side of his head."

"Jane and Bob Carter did some great things and advanced [Aaron's] career to what it was, but they also did some negative things," Aaron's manager Mark Giovi said in the docuseries. "They treated the children like employees."

Without question, the most upsetting allegations in "Fallen Idols" are regarding Nick Carter and accusations of sexual impropriety and assault. Melissa Schuman, a former member of the girl group Dream, worked with Nick on a movie called "The Hollow" in 2003 and says that he invited her to his apartment and initiated sexual contact. "He continues to kiss me and then he puts me up on the counter. I can feel him unbuttoning my pants and I stop him and tell him, 'I don't want to go any further,'" Schuman says in the docuseries. "But he did not listen to me, despite the fact that I resisted and told him no. He started to perform oral sex on me, which was horrific." Schuman says that she repeatedly said no — and Nick also insisted that she perform oral sex on him in return. After that, Schulman says they moved to the bedroom. 

"As he is kissing me, I am telling him, 'I don't want to have sex. I am saving myself for marriage,'" Schuman said. "I told him so many times, 'I am saving myself for my future husband.' He said, 'I could be your husband.'" Schuman says that Nick then had sex with her against her will and only stopped when he asked if she liked it, and she told him that she didn't.

Then, Schuman says she received a text from Nick the following day where he asked why she "[made him] do that," which alarmed her. "That text message freaked me out," Schuman revealed. "I confided in my manager about going to the police and reporting the crime. And he was just like, '[Nick's] got the most powerful litigator in the country.'"

Another girl who said that Nick Carter assaulted her in the docuseries is Ashley Repp, who alleges that Nick did so when the girl was just 15 years old. Repp says that she was friends with Nick and Aaron Carter's sister Angel and attended a party at the Carter's massive home in the Florida Keys in 2004, where Nick — who Repp says was drunk, as was she — removed her from the group at large and started kissing her. "We ended up having sex," Repp said. "I was just so uncomfortable, and I just remember thinking that it hurt. I was like, 'Wow, I feel really, really, really stupid.'"

Repp didn't press charges at that time because, as she says, she told Nick she was 18 and "didn't understand the magnitude" at the time, but a second encounter encouraged her to pursue action. At a later date, she was on a boat with Nick and was drunk to the point where she says she had basically no control over herself or her body, at which point the "Backstreet Boys" singer took her to the bedroom and had sex with her. Repp says she was "vocally against" what was happening and even looked up to see Nick's friends looking into the bedroom through the boat's hatch window, watching them. "I was just so embarrassed," Repp said.

During their interviews in the docuseries, both Ashley Repp and Melissa Schuman — who number among Nick Carter's accusers — both said that Aaron Carter reached out to them and said that he supported their claims against his brother. Repp said that after her second allegedly nonconsensual encounter with Nick, "Aaron could tell that something was wrong with me." According to Repp, Aaron wanted to handle the situation as best he could and was estranged from Nick at the time: Aaron was very kind to me. He didn't have a great relationship with his brother at that time because what he said were other similar events with his brother and younger girls." 

As for Schuman, she says that Aaron DMed her on X (formerly known as Twitter) and requested that she reach out, only to reveal that she wasn't alone. "'You're not the first person this has happened to with him,'" Schuman recalls Aaron saying. "'He did this to another girl named Ashley.'" Unfortunately for Aaron, this potentially led to a situation where he placed himself in Nick's crosshairs, leading to a disturbing situation involving online harassment.

Jennifer Huffman, a private investigator who spoke to ID for the documentary, says that Aaron Carter hired her due to online harassment from a specific source. "He told me he was the victim of harassment," Huffman said. "He wanted some help getting it to stop. A lot of this stuff was from a YouTube streamer that goes by the name of Ganval. Ganval calls himself Aaron's archnemesis." In an Instagram livestream also featured in the docuseries, Aaron said that he believed Nick was the culprit, saying that the timing was suspect: "It only started when I became a voice for rape victims." Worse still, Nick's wife Lauren Kitt Carter was spotted online interacting with Ganval, which made both Huffman and Aaron understandably suspicious.

"Why would his sister-in-law be online with an individual spending his days trying to troll and harass Aaron?" Huffman said. "Unfortunately, there was more. There is actual live footage of Ganval when he received a donation made by Lauren Kitt Carter." Still, Huffman did say that there was no evidence regarding Nick specifically: "But at no time did I see any indication of Nick Carter harassing Aaron."

"Fallen Idols" is, all things considered, an incredibly disturbing look at a famous family — and shows the tragic downfall of Aaron, a troubled star whose life was cut terribly short. It's streaming on Max now.

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

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If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).