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Sexual Assault Allegations Against Nick Carter in ‘Fallen Idols’: What You Should Know

Theo

Top line

ID and Max’s new documentary series “Fallen Idols: Nick and Aaron Carter” examines the three sexual assault lawsuits filed against Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter, who has repeatedly denied the allegations while filing a countersuit. His lawyers call the accusers “outrageous” and a “band of conspirators.”

Key data

All three women who have sued Carter and accused him of sexual assault appear in the documentary series “Fallen Idols” (Carter declined to participate).

Shannon Ruth filed suit against Carter in December 2022, claiming that the singer picked her out of a line of fans looking for autographs in 2001, took her to his tour bus and raped her when she was 17. Carter’s lawyer called the allegations “not only legally baseless, but completely untrue.”

Singer and former member of the girl group Dream, Melissa Schuman, claims Carter sexually abused her in 2002, and she sued him in 2023, six years after publicly accusing him in a blog post.

Ashley Repp sued Carter in August 2023, claiming that he sexually abused her multiple times in 2003, when she was 15 and he was 23. She and Carter knew each other as family friends, and he gave her alcohol and infected her with HPV.

Carter denies all allegations made by the three women.

News Peg

The first two of four episodes of “Fallen Idols: Nick and Aaron Carter” aired Monday night on ID and Max, and the final two episodes will air Tuesday night. The first two episodes focused on Schuman and Repp, while Ruth’s claims are explored in the final episodes. Also featured in the docuseries is former Pussycat Dolls member Kaya Jones, who says she dated Carter in the 2000s and reportedly talks about Carter’s anger during the two’s relationship, though she said he was “never physically violent” toward her.

Surprising fact

Schuman sued Carter under a California law – the Sexual Abuse and Cover Up Accountability Act, which was passed in 2022 and takes effect on January 1, 2023 – that allows some adult survivors of alleged sexual assault to file suit even after the 10-year statute of limitations has expired. Prosecutors in Los Angeles had already said in 2018, a year after Schuman accused Carter of sexual assault on her blog, that Schuman could not bring charges because the statute of limitations expired in 2013.

Contra

In response to the Fallen Idol docuseries, Carter’s attorney Dale Hayes Jr. called the allegations “outrageous.” The lawsuits “are currently working their way through the legal system, and based on the initial court rulings and overwhelming evidence, we are confident we will prevail and hold them accountable for spreading these falsehoods,” Hayes told Forbes. Carter has sued his accusers, initially claiming in a February 2023 lawsuit (and again in a January 2024 lawsuit, months after Repp went public) that the three women and Schuman’s father engaged in a “five-year conspiracy” to “harass, defame and extort” him. Carter claimed Schuman and her father “prepared and coached” Ruth and Repp to exaggerate and fabricate allegations against the singer, and claimed they recruited Ruth on social media and sent tweets attacking Carter and his supporters. Carter’s lawsuit claimed the “campaign was created and supported by the #MeToo movement,” citing Schuman’s 2017 blog post, written shortly after the launch of the viral anti-sexual abuse campaign, which ended with the hashtag #MeToo.

tangent

“Fallen Idols” also delves into Aaron Carter’s mental health struggles, his death by drowning in 2022 following a drug overdose, and his strained relationship with his brother. Nick Carter previously described their upbringing as “chaotic,” explaining that their now-divorced parents and grandparents were “heavy drinkers” and their parents argued frequently. Both Nick and Aaron Carter had problems with drugs and alcohol, while their sisters Leslie and Bobbie Jean died of drug overdoses, Leslie at age 25 in 2012 and Bobbie Jean, 41, in 2023. Nick and Aaron Carter’s relationship publicly deteriorated after the sexual assault allegations surfaced. Aaron Carter reportedly defended Schuman on Instagram Live in 2019 and harshly criticized his brother in a series of tweets, claiming he was “bullying these women with power and money.” Nick Carter filed a restraining order against his brother in September 2019, citing his “alarming behavior” and claiming that his brother had threatened to kill his pregnant wife and unborn child. The docuseries reportedly suggests that Aaron Carter’s death was influenced by online harassment he faced following his argument with his brother.

Further information

Where to stream the documentary series “Fallen Idols” online (The Hollywood Reporter)

Nick Carter and Melissa Schuman fight a tough battle in rape case as judge makes important ruling (Rolling Stone)

Fallen Idols Documentary Explores Nick Carter Rape Allegations and Aaron Carter Controversy: The Biggest Revelations (Variety)

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