Original subtitles

- ♪ Back, back, back, back ♪

♪ Backstreet's back, all right ♪

♪ ♪

- I was four years old when Nick started

in the Backstreet Boys.

all: Backstreet Boys!

- I don't think this has ever happened,

but they have officially declared a state of emergency.

- And the winners are...

- Backstreet Boys, "Everybody."

- Ladies and gentlemen, the world's most successful

pop group, the Backstreet Boys.

[fireworks booming]

- Aaron got into singing because he saw Nick singing,

and Aaron idolized Nick and wanted to be just like Nick.

[somber music]

- But there was a tremendous amount

of pressure put on Aaron,

the pressure of being a people pleaser.

♪

As the family was becoming famous

and money started coming into play,

behind the scenes, it was chaos.

♪ ♪

- When fame and money came into our lives,

it destroyed our family.

[child shouting] - Good.

- I found one up there.

- The feeling of our childhood,

you can't put it into one word

because it's sadness.

It's fear.

♪ ♪

But it's love too.

It's hope.

- ♪ I could feel at the time ♪

♪ There was no way of knowing ♪

♪ Fallen leaves in the night ♪

♪ Who can say where they're blowing ♪

♪ As free as the wind ♪

♪ Hopefully learning ♪

♪ Why the sea on the tide ♪

♪ Has no way of turning ♪

♪ More than this ♪

♪ You know there's nothing ♪

♪ More than this ♪

[cheers and applause]

- Hold up. Hold up, y'all.

Hold up. Hold up. - What's up? What's up?

- I think we forgot somebody, yo.

- Oh, man, we forgot-- we forgot the little man.

- Go bust it, son. - Take it away, boy.

Take it home.

- ♪ And if I ever - ♪ Ever fall ♪

- ♪ In love again ♪

- Nick's rise to success happened when I was so young.

I look back at my childhood, and, you know,

that was, like, normal for us.

It's all I ever knew.

[dramatic music]

Nick is the oldest sibling, eight years older than me.

And then my sister Bobbie was born.

Leslie was a year and a half older than Aaron and I.

And actually, Aaron and I were a surprise.

♪ ♪

My mom did not plan on getting pregnant again,

and they found out it was twins.

[gentle music]

[baby babbling]

- Lookit, Angel. Look at Daddy.

Look at Daddy.

Say, hi, Daddy.

Daddy.

Daddy.

♪ ♪

- Aaron, look at the camera.

- [chuckles]

- [babbling]

- I have to.

- Being a twin, you just have this unbreakable bond

with each other, this soul connection.

When we were babies, I was the crybaby.

[crying]

- Oh, she crawled under the couch.

- And Aaron was just always smiling--

- [squeals] - Very good.

- And just happy.

- I find something.

- [babbling]

- No, I didn't.

- Aaron was a charmer.

- [laughs] - [groans]

- He just stood out.

[laughter]

I was the sister that was just an observer,

you know, just kind of watched everything that was going on.

♪ ♪

I was a minute older than Aaron,

and as a child, I was able to look out for him.

He loved that. He loved that.

And I always did that when we were kids.

[giggles]

BJ, you have to see this!

[light folk music]

We lived in Tampa, Florida,

and my parents had a retirement home that they ran.

[indistinct chatter]

- Where's Aaron?

- My earliest childhood memories

are just swimming in the pool and playing outside together.

- Ah!

[squeals]

- Lots of birthday parties, and holidays were fun.

- Look, Mommy. - Yeah?

- Look, Mom. - Oh, yeah. Pretty.

- My sister Leslie, all she wanted was to be loved.

[indistinct chatter]

Bobbie was very maternal.

She loved to take care of us all.

- Oh, no. Yeah.

All your pictures, none of them.

You never looked forward. - Oh, want to bet?

There you go.

- Nick was always the protective big brother.

- There she is, looking forward.

- Imagine five children in a home.

[children babbling]

It was pretty chaotic.

♪ ♪

I look back on those years and those moments,

and my mom was so excited to be a mom and to have all of us.

[baby crying]

- Oh, hush.

- [giggles] You got it.

- [chuckles] Oh, you shut up for the camera, huh?

- [giggling]

- She tried her best, you know, to make those special moments

for us and to be there.

- Look at this convict.

- My dad was the more strict parent.

He was not as loving and as sensitive

as we craved as children, unless he was drinking.

[indistinct chatter]

- ♪ Deck the halls with boughs of holly ♪

♪ Fa-la-la-la, la-la-la-la ♪

- Music was always a part of our lives.

My parents loved classic rock music,

and we grew up with Jimmy Buffett

and Bruce Springsteen and Journey.

And Aaron would sing Nirvana songs.

[chuckling] And we would just, like,

rock out, like, making music.

- ♪ Let's take the road before us ♪

♪ And sing a chorus or two ♪

♪ Come on ♪

[soft piano music playing] - OK, again.

- [vocalizing]

- My mom discovered Nick singing on a tree stump

in our backyard.

- You could be real good,

but you got to get your voice right.

♪ Ah ♪

- And then she got him into auditions and into singing.

- ♪ So many men and girls ♪

♪ Are in each other's arms ♪

♪ You ain't nothin' but a hound dog ♪

♪ Cryin' all the time

♪ Well, they're packed pretty tight in here tonight ♪

♪ I'm looking for a dolly who'll see me right ♪

- There was an ad in the newspaper for a boy band,

and Nick auditioned.

- 5, 6, 7, 8.

[upbeat dance music playing]

- And they became the Backstreet Boys.

- ♪ Just a little love ♪

- ♪ Oh-oh, oh-oh ♪

- I was four years old when Nick started

in the Backstreet Boys.

Four.

- Y'all make some noise for the Backstreet Boys.

[cheers and applause]

- They used to perform at high schools and malls

and do these little tours around.

- ♪ You know it's the stranger things you do ♪

- And then things really started to take off for them

when Nick was around 14 years old.

- ♪ I'll never turn you away ♪

♪ I'll motion for you

- They really just broke out there.

He was gone a lot.

And I remember he would come home,

and we'd play Barbies and Ninja Turtles together.

That was, like, our thing.

When Nick was home, he was just my big brother.

We didn't realize that the Backstreet Boys

were going to be one of the biggest

boy bands of all time.

- Ladies and gentlemen, Backstreet Boys.

- The Backstreet Boys.

- Backstreet Boys.

- The Backstreet Boys!

[bright music]

- Nick, you're blonde. You're cute.

Girls scream the minute they see you.

How is it being a teen idol?

- I think each and every one of us love the attention.

And it just--sometimes you sit back and you wonder why.

- I remember when Nick Carter and the Backstreet Boys

were on "Sabrina."

They were, like, a really big deal.

I end up in Australia years later, and it turns out,

the Backstreet Boys are going to be there.

[cheers and applause]

- When I tell you, like, people are hanging off

apartment balconies, screaming, fans in every direction.

I think it was bigger than Beatlemania.

- I love Nick! I love you! Mwah!

- It was insane.

I don't even know how the bus pulled through the crowds.

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

- ♪ And I'm so, so glad ♪

- Yeah, that's good.

- ♪ And I'm so, so glad that it's Christmas ♪

- Aaron got into singing because he saw Nick singing,

and Aaron idolized Nick...

- ♪ And I'm so, so glad ♪

♪ It's Christmas - You like that.

- And wanted to be just like Nick growing up.

- Right here.

- ♪ Kids all over the world ♪

♪ Jump for joy, celebrate

♪ It's our thing, and I'm so, so ♪

- So the opportunity for Aaron to open up

for the Backstreet Boys came about

because the Backstreet Boys invited him.

[cheers and applause]

- Kick it.

- Aaron started touring around age 10,

and I think, at that time, it was really exciting for him.

- Hi.

You got to see the reaction.

[cheers and applause]

- At a young age, he was already a people pleaser.

- Are you enjoying your time as a musician?

- Yes. - Yeah?

- Mm-hmm.

- And you're nine years old? - Yeah. [chuckles]

♪ But still I trusted her with all I felt inside ♪

- I remember when he got pulled away from school.

I was in third grade.

It was such a sad day for me because I knew

he wasn't coming back.

- My name is Stan Jones.

I've known Aaron since 1999.

And I was his musical director and keyboard player.

[upbeat music playing]

Aaron was a master performer.

That's the thing about Aaron being solo,

as opposed to coming up in a group.

He had to have command, at an early age,

of the entire stage.

And he worked every ounce of that stage.

♪ ♪

He was always behind everybody's instrument.

Show me this, show me that.

And he would practice for hours.

- So you're going to be out on the tour all summer long?

- Yep, the whole tour, I'm going to be out here.

- Is it a lot of fun for you, or does it

get to be a little, like-- - Really much?

It's really... - Yeah?

- Lots of fun out here, really much.

- So in this country, do you find, like, as you go

from town to town, more and more people know you

and know your music, and... - Yeah.

- Do a lot of people come up to you?

- Yeah. - Yeah.

- Lots of people.

- Aaron's rise to success, it just happened so naturally.

I mean, because Nick was already famous at that time,

and Aaron was just, like, this mini version of Nick,

who's just as talented,

just as funny and charming.

[laughter]

I spent a lot of time on tour with Aaron during those years,

and really, I just loved seeing Aaron shine.

- ♪ I just want to ♪

- Aaron just was born to do this.

Aaron was born to be a star.

He was born to perform.

- ♪ Santa's coming, boom ♪

♪ To bring us lots ♪

- But I think there was a tremendous amount

of pressure put on Aaron throughout his childhood...

- In 5.

And 5, 6, 7, 8. - What are you looking at?

- And 1...

- The pressure of touring the world

and being a people pleaser.

- Take it. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

So again, it goes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

That's when you got to go, come on.

Come on. Come on.

- ♪ It's Christmas Eve ♪

♪ And I just can't seem to go to sleep ♪

- Oh.

I'm feeling--

- Oh, man, that's not it.

♪ I'm so, so ♪

- [growling playfully]

- Concentrate, boy. - Put that back over here.

- Concen-what? - Concentrate.

[indistinct chatter]

- Aaron loved doing it.

But how do you tell a child that it's OK

to work like an adult and it's OK to work as hard

as you have been, to not have your childhood

and to have that taken away from you?

- How can he have a normal childhood?

It's impossible.

- Well, he doesn't have a normal childhood, per se,

but some parents, you know, take their kids

to Little League baseball or dance classes.

Aaron does this in addition

to his normal childhood activities, so.

[dramatic music]

- In the back of my mind, I always kind of thought

of the Jacksons and Michael Jackson

and what they probably were going through.

There would probably not have been a Michael Jackson

if there wasn't a certain amount of pressure

to push him to what he ended up being,

but that comes with consequences.

♪ ♪

- My dad was Aaron's business manager.

My mom was his manager.

And there were oftentimes where he was on tour

and he just wanted to come home.

My parents would tell him, Aaron, just finish this tour,

and we'll buy you a boat.

Or, Aaron, do this job,

and we'll buy you a diamond necklace.

[cheers and applause]

- So wave bye-bye to your fans here.

You have so many fans here. Just wave bye-bye.

- But he just wanted to come home and play and be a kid.

♪ ♪

[light music]

Growing up, my parents were from upstate New York,

and they both came from dysfunctional homes.

Money wasn't something that they had,

and fame certainly wasn't something

that was ever in that town.

My mom met my dad when she was hitchhiking

on the side of the road.

Her car broke down.

And he pulled over to help her.

She knew who he was.

He was Bobby Carter.

All the women knew who he was.

When she met my dad, I don't think that she ever

thought that she could be with him

because my dad was a womanizer.

Her parents got divorced when she was really young,

and she had three brothers.

And she kind of had to raise her brothers

and was thrown this, you know, mother role

at a very young age.

And she started having issues with alcohol as a teenager.

There is a genetic component to mental health.

And in my family, mental health disorders run very deep.

[chuckles]

- My grandmothers suffer from mental illnesses,

and also alcoholism runs heavily in the family as well.

♪ ♪

My dad's mom and his dad owned a bar in upstate New York

called Yankee Rebel, and Nick grew up in the bar.

- Hey, Bob.

Come on.

Hey, Captain.

- My dad cheated on my mom a lot,

and I think that was the root of a lot of her pain.

But she loved my dad, so she always went back to him.

- I found one!

- You found another one?

- Hey, Leslie found one. - Found two.

- All right.

- When my parents moved to Tampa, Florida,

they had moved down there to start new.

BJ and Nick were already born at that time.

- I found one up there!

- Here, let me help you. - Cute.

- They started a retirement home,

and that's what my parents did before Nick took off

in the Backstreet Boys.

- I got an Easter Bunny.

- Growing up, I remember my parents

were always drinking, always partying, lots of drugs,

out on the boats.

[engine rumbling]

- Whoo! - Yeah!

- Whoo!

- I remember a lot of fighting between my parents,

a lot of fighting.

As the family was becoming famous

and money started coming into play, behind the scenes,

you know, it was kind of like, you know,

the family secret of chaos and fear.

Money became the driving force instead of, you know,

being present for your children.

- This is not the Steadicam that you're all used to, but--

- Are you pretending? - [laughs]

Would you like to come into my sitting room?

- This is Lou's house.

What a beauty, man.

I tell you, if I had what he's got...

[chuckles] I wouldn't have any worries.

Come on with me.

We're going to his mansion.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- When Aaron was 10, he was working a lot in Los Angeles,

and my parents were longing for a change from Florida.

So then we moved to Palos Verdes.

- To Palos Verdes, our new home in the hills.

Aah.

- Now we'll switch over to Aaron.

[light music]

- Hey, you want to see a funny photo?

- Let's do a self-portrait.

- Now let's switch over to me.

- My name's Lori Knight.

I moved to Hollywood after college

to be an actor and follow my dreams

and quickly learned that I could probably make

a lot more money behind the scenes,

so I started teaching at a performing arts school

in Torrance, California,

and that's where I met Aaron.

His mother had called the performing arts school

and needed a coach to work with him on his stage performance

because he had just gotten a record deal with Jive/Zomba,

and they were putting him on a promotional tour,

so the school recommended me.

I'm from Kentucky.

In LA, you know, the homes are so opulent and the big gates.

And I always wondered, what's behind the gates?

So the first time that I went to their home

and the gates open, I'm like, my God,

I'm finally going to see what's behind the gates.

You know, what's it going to be?

And the first thing I noticed, you know,

there was this big, huge fountain,

and the water was green,

so it clearly had not been taken care of.

And I remember going into this big mansion.

- The Carter house, six bathrooms,

nine bedrooms, three living rooms,

I think eight fireplaces.

- It was kind of like a Tim Burton movie

where everything looks normal but something was still off

but you couldn't figure out exactly what it was.

Like, in the formal living room, there was

a plastic light-up palm tree

and a porcelain cockatoo,

and it was like, huh, hmm.

And quickly, I ended up going on the road.

Aaron was going on this promotional tour,

and the parents wanted me to go out for a couple weeks

to, you know, really get him comfortable.

And at the end of the two weeks,

they offered me a tour management job.

I knew nothing about any of that,

but this was an entertainment family,

and I'm like, this could help my career.

I had only been in LA a year.

So I was like, OK.

- What was your first impression of Aaron?

- Oh, gosh.

I've never had to talk about this stuff before,

so it's strange.

[somber music]

He was this little sweet, bubbly

just, like, ball of energy.

He was just full of life and so joyful and happy

and back flips and front flips and climbing up trees,

scaring the heck out of me.

- I think the most fascinating thing about tree climbing is,

it's just--it's so fun to do and the ability just to swing,

and I feel like Tarzan. [chuckles]

And I used to make my own tree houses and stuff like that.

But I've always loved trees for some reason.

But one day, I won't. [chuckles]

One day, I'll fall off and then never like a tree ever again.

- And I was like, this kid is super special.

- You know, some kids, their wish is to come see me.

And that means a lot to me because I know that people

acknowledge me out in the real world,

and I really respect that.

But I care about everybody, even people I meet

in, like, an hour.

They're very important to me, and they always will be.

- Gosh, you look like Ricky Nelson.

- And you look like Dennis the Menace.

- Well, like they say, if all else fails, do the monkey.

Aaron was on "Sabrina," and he sang "I Want Candy"

on the beach because it was a "Beach Blanket Bingo" episode.

And that song was a big hit for him.

- ♪ I want candy ♪

- He seemed very young and innocent.

When you watch his old stuff back,

you see this--he reminds me of myself at that age, just a ham.

I don't remember family being around.

I think when you're on a set and you're young,

you should have family around.

- My name is Scout Willis, and I was about 10

when I became

absolutely batshit insane

obsessed with Aaron Carter.

I used all my deep, reverent prayer.

I'm like, please, one day.

Like, one day, please let me meet him.

I love him so much.

Like, please, just, like, let this happen for me.

Cut to my 12th birthday.

We were in Disney World.

And we all were at dinner one night.

The adults, in hindsight, were being incredibly cagey.

My dad walks in, and next to him,

it dawns on me slowly and then all at once

that it's Aaron Carter.

And from inside of me erupts the most insane fangirl

piercing 12-year-old scream

you can possibly imagine.

I'm, like, shaking.

Magic is real. Dreams are real.

Anything is possible.

He sits down, and he is, like, the sweetest, most beautiful,

gracious boy I have ever met,

far more beautiful than I could even possibly imagine.

I am just like, this is it, girl.

You better work your charm because, like,

this is the moment.

He's calling me his wife,

like, that we're joking about getting married.

I'm, like, living my fantasy, my dream.

My dad had asked him to come to my birthday party,

which is just, like, so over the top and obscene

of my dad to do.

It's him and, like, a handler.

No parents, no adults. Like, it's just him.

He was having such a good time hanging out with us

that he decided that he wanted to stay

for the whole weekend with us.

We did all of Disney World with him.

It was so rare for him to get to, like,

hang out with kids his own age and, like, not be working.

And it was something that I only realized years later of,

like, how rare of a moment this was

for him to get to just play and be silly

and, like, have fun with us.

- Aaron just worked so hard.

And that is one thing I will say about both of my brothers

is, they are very hard workers.

Nick and Aaron always had their own special relationship.

- Backstreet Boy Nick Carter jetted to Ottawa, Canada,

to catch little brother Aaron's final concert date last Sunday.

What the 11-year-old up-and-coming singer

didn't know is that his busy superstar brother

was actually waiting in the wings.

[cheers and applause]

- I haven't seen him in a long time.

It's been about six or seven months that I've seen him.

- Nick always wanted what was best for his brother

and supported him throughout everything, which is why,

if you look back on history,

you'll see Nick in his first music video with him.

You'll see Nick onstage with him.

You'll see Nick bringing Aaron out on the road with him.

Nick always supported Aaron and loved and cared about him

and wanted what was best for him.

- Aaron, I love you, buddy.

- Regardless of the circumstances

and how things played out,

these were kids that were in a home with each other

and experienced the same trauma and leaned on each other

to get through that trauma.

♪ ♪

- Welcome to the Carter family compound,

20 acres of prime beachfront property in the Florida Keys.

- As the family was becoming famous

and money started coming into play,

my parents decided to move back to Florida.

The first time I was left on my own completely,

I was 13 years old.

Aaron was on tour.

Nick was already gone with the Backstreet Boys all the time.

At that point, I have no idea where my sisters were.

And I was left on a tour bus for a month with a man.

I was really uncomfortable around him

because he tried to sexually assault me,

so I knew what he was capable of.

And my parents left me with him on the tour bus.

And my dad told me just to keep the doors locked at night.

But we always had people around us that

worked with my family who--

these older men who tried to sexually assault all of us,

and some of them did.

To be a child and to not feel safe in your own home

and to not have your parents to go to was really hard.

- Isn't this beautiful?

It's beautiful. It's beautiful.

- Aaron and I were on tour,

and I got a call from Angel one day, crying.

And Bob had left,

but he didn't leave her with any money.

And she was crying. She was hungry.

She was like, I don't have shampoo to wash my hair.

My hair is filthy. I haven't washed it in days.

And it was gut-wrenching.

And I'm like, how can a dad leave

his children, his minor children,

to just fend for themselves?

They just didn't pay a lot of attention to her

because she wasn't in show business.

It was the same for Leslie and BJ.

BJ would retreat to her room.

I would go check on her, and always,

when I opened the door,

she was sitting drinking tequila.

That's how she dealt with the pain and the neglect.

- Leslie at the time was already struggling

with mental illness from a very young age,

and my sister Bobbie, she became

addicted to drugs at age 13.

And she would just be off with her friends.

But, you know, I think that ultimately,

because I was neglected by my parents,

it saved me, in a way.

Because my parents were so consumed with the boys

in the family, I was often spending time with my friends,

going to their homes and sitting down at a dinner table

and eating with their families and talking about our day.

I had those moments, whereas my siblings,

they didn't have those moments.

- And here is... me.

I am in Argentina.

- Aaron and I, we had been on tour for,

like, a year and a half.

We had just finished opening for Brit,

and the marketing executive at Jive/Zomba called me.

And she said, hey, Lori, we're doing a change in the schedule.

Instead of Aaron going back to the Keys to take a break,

to have four weeks off, we're flying you guys to New York.

He's going to star in "Seussical the Musical."

And I said, no.

No, that is not happening.

This kid needs a break.

He's going home.

He needs to be with his family.

He needs a vacation.

We're not doing that.

But I wasn't his manager, and I wasn't his mother,

so I wasn't in charge, really.

Their manipulation of Aaron was, OK, I promise you,

when you get back, we'll go anywhere

you want to go, a family vacation.

Then the family went on vacation without Aaron,

and then he found out from his grandparents

that they went on the vacation without him.

[somber music]

It was about midnight, and I heard

Aaron crying, like, weeping.

I get up, I go out, and he's sitting

in the living room by himself

with a butcher knife to his throat.

I literally screamed, Richard--

his bodyguard.

Before I knew it, Richard, like,

bolted into the room, and the knife was out of Aaron's--

it was like magic.

It was just, like, all of a sudden, boom,

and the knife was gone.

♪ ♪

I called Nick, woke him up.

Nick was like, oh, my God.

This is awful. Let me talk to him.

And I could hear them in the living room on the phone

for literally hours, talking, laughing,

and got us through that crisis moment.

- When he's out on the road and he gets depressed or something,

I'll fly out.

And he does get depressed. - He has before.

- Don't you?

[wailing playfully]

- I learned in that first year and a half or so

that I couldn't rely on the parents

to help me make Aaron feel loved by his family

or cared about in a genuine way.

And I knew Nick had been through all that

himself with his parents.

And so when there were these pivotal moments

when Aaron and I would be touring,

Nick was the one that I called.

And he was always there.

He always showed up, always for Aaron.

- I love my brother, and I think--

and I think I'm just going to be there to support you.

You know what? Forget the supporting thing.

- I always say, regardless of all the fame that my brothers

had, like, they're very down-to-earth people

who love their family members.

And I wish that Aaron would have felt that love more

within our family home.

My parents often fought about money

and fought about the business

because they were in business together, managing Aaron.

- Know that we can make it happen if he wants it to happen.

- Here's Jane running around California,

bossing everybody around.

Yak, yak, yak, yak, yak.

- I just wanted my parents to get divorced.

I was so fed up with the fighting

and the chaos and the drama.

My parents split up at one point.

And I remember that day.

My mom and dad took Aaron and I to Lou Pearlman's office,

who was the mediator for my parents

during their separation.

Lou Pearlman is the person who put together

the Backstreet Boys.

Lou was just very involved with my family at that time.

Aaron and I sat in Lou Pearlman's office

with my mom and my dad, and we each had to pick

which parent we were going to live with.

My mom wanted to take Aaron with her at that point,

and she knew that in order to take Aaron

that she would probably have to take me

because I was Aaron's twin.

And Aaron picked my mom,

and I picked my dad,

because I felt like out of the two of them

that my dad was the more stable parent.

I think she was surprised that I didn't pick her.

I was relieved and was happy

that they were finally divorcing.

And Aaron and Leslie took it the hardest.

- I'm so nervous, I can't even think.

[dramatic music]

I met Bob in 2003

in Orange Beach, Alabama, at a boat race.

And the minute he laid eyes on me,

he said, I'm going to marry you.

♪ ♪

The one thing about Bob that I adored

was his confidence, the way he walked,

the way he held his head,

the way he was just so sure of everything.

He would light up any room and not even try.

He was amazing.

After the boat race in Orange Beach,

he had invited me to go to Newark, New Jersey.

He flew me out there from Georgia.

I arrived, and he came to my hotel room

and asked me to marry him.

I said, yes.

- ♪ It's rough out here on my own ♪

♪ But soon I'll be coming home to your kisses ♪

- We never separated after that day.

I moved to the Keys.

But I didn't realize exactly

what I was getting myself into.

Nick was grown, and BJ was 21.

Aaron and Angel, they were the youngest,

and they were already teenagers.

Leslie and Aaron and Angel were pretty much

just running around at their own free will.

I was divorced, and I had a four-year-old daughter.

Me coming in as an outsider and never living,

you know, that kind of life, at 28, it was eye-opening.

I'd never seen kids that worked.

All of my friends, when I was a kid, all we did was play.

So it was sad to me.

I just felt like they pushed Aaron too hard.

And I think that's why, when I met them,

I would try to play still, even though they were teenagers.

- Ginger was such a mother figure to me

and just came in and really filled a void for me.

And I know that my dad loved her so much.

And she loved my dad too.

- When I met him, Jane and Bob were separated.

And the only thing they were really any concern at all

was money.

She lived in Miami. We lived in the Keys.

So I never dreamed there would be any problems,

because at that point, I would think

that she didn't really want anything

to do with Bob anymore.

- Aaron and I were in one of the houses on the property.

We were hanging out with some friends.

And I look over on the sliding door,

and I saw my mom's head peeking in the door.

I said to Aaron, I was like, oh, my gosh, Mom is here.

And all of a sudden, we just saw her run,

just ran across a football field to the house

and broke in the door.

[suspenseful music]

She ran upstairs.

We're trailing behind her.

- I didn't even know who she was.

It was dark. I was asleep.

And she broke in our house.

She was screaming she was going to get Bob back.

- They had a huge physical altercation with each other.

- Glass is broken.

You know, there's blood dripping down the door.

And, you know, I hear screaming.

- I was concerned that my four-year-old daughter

was downstairs in her bedroom, where she broke in.

So my reaction was, is my daughter OK?

I didn't try to fight her or nothing.

I just wanted out of the bottom of the pile

between her and Bob, and I wanted to check on my daughter.

♪ ♪

- It was total chaos.

And Aaron is actually the one who called the police on her.

- I had to do it, and I didn't want her to get arrested,

but I just wanted it to stop.

- Sitting in that squad car, reminiscing and thinking,

wow, you know, all these years, and this is how I get treated.

- She got arrested, went to jail,

and then Aaron went and bailed her out.

You have to understand, like, this is just how it was with us.

- [roars] - Aah! [laughs]

- There were so many incidents like this in the family

that this type of dysfunction,

these types of fights,

just became normal.

- When Aaron's parents were going through a bitter divorce,

the truth of the matter is, they were fighting over Aaron.

He was the breadwinner.

- Aaron's Winter Party Tour grossed an estimated $4 million

in five weeks' time.

Let's talk about Aaron himself.

Is he financially set for the future?

- Absolutely. He is.

If he wants to quit, you know, tomorrow, when he turns 18,

he's got a lot of money.

- Aaron started to think that my mom and dad

weren't handling his money well when he was about 15.

- What happened that's made you so angry at your mother?

- She changed, you know?

And I think it has a lot to do with people

changing because of money.

- The first time I realized that there was misappropriation

of funds was, we went to South America,

and Bob went with us.

When we got down there, I found out

that Bob had advanced and told them all to--

whatever was owed, to pay it in cash.

And I thought that was strange.

And then when it was time to go back to America,

instead of putting the money in Aaron's operating account,

he was going to the bank and getting cashier's checks

to cash so he could later cash them whenever he needed cash.

- There's Dad.

- He was stealing from his child.

- He doesn't want to be seen.

- And he did the same thing with Nick.

I can remember this banker came,

and you see Bob in there just writing

check after check after check.

Nick just got a big, huge deposit

into his operating account from Backstreet Boys,

and Bob just was paying off a couple million dollars' worth

of Bob and Jane debt.

- I think that my parents, how they looked at it

was, my kid, my money.

There was a ridiculous amount of money

coming into the family.

- When Nick learned all that, Bob stopped

being his business manager at that point.

- I think Nick got to a place where, you know,

he said how he felt.

- I just said, you know, I can't--

you know, I can't do this no more.

You know, I have to be by myself, you know.

You need to let me grow up,

let me be who I need to be.

- I think that my mom really struggled with that

because she couldn't control him anymore.

So she really started to pin

Aaron and Nick against each other.

She would tell Aaron things like,

you're going to be a bigger star than Nick.

You're more talented than Nick.

- Aaron loved his big brother so much.

And he'd be like, I miss Nick so much.

And, Aaron, you know, get over it.

He doesn't love us anymore. He's abandoned us.

- You got your kid brother here.

- Yeah, I'm escorting him because he's underage.

- He's wearing my single, "Not Too Young."

- And I think that as Aaron got older,

he thought that his brother was out to get him

and was jealous of him.

- I mean, I always trusted my mother, you know?

Every time they split up, I always went with her.

- Mm-hmm. - And then I'm like,

how could you do that to me, you know?

- Millions of dollars were coming

into the family at that point.

And my parents were just spending his money,

to the point where when Aaron turned 18

and he finally was able to access his money,

he had $2.5 million left in the bank from his block trust.

Well, he owed the IRS $2 million because my parents,

during the divorce, stopped paying his taxes.

He was broke.

- When the parents started fighting for control of Aaron,

it was very problematic with his career.

The relationship at the label was breaking down

because they were getting tired of dealing with the parents,

and the decline was pretty rapid, pretty rapid.

By the time he was 16, it was over.

♪ ♪

- Aaron loved being a singer.

He loved going onstage.

He loved performing for people.

- If you're a people pleaser and you want to entertain

and you just want people to laugh or smile or, you know,

say you were good at something,

that serves you to a certain point.

But then there comes a point when there's

going to be a lull, a dip in your career,

whether you're just not working at that time or whatever it is.

I think that it's very dangerous

because you put all of your eggs in that one basket.

- Come here. Come here, buddy.

Come here.

♪ ♪

- Aaron and I have the same story.

And that is the trusting of people in this world

and in this industry around us.

The trust thing that we both had

stemmed from the world that we were thrust into,

because every time we would come across anybody--

it didn't matter who it was--

they would always do something to prove to us

that you weren't to be trusted.

I knew they wanted something from me,

and he knew that they wanted something from him too.

And that, in itself, causes this, like, vicious cycle of,

like, you know, you don't know who to turn to, who to trust.

♪ ♪

I've done this for 31 years.

I've been in this industry for so long, and it's--

it's pressure.

It's a lot of pressure.

I was thinking about a song.

You ever heard of the song called "Tears of a Clown"?

[sniffles] It's an old Smokey Robinson song.

And it's basically, you know, I put on a smile

when, you know, I'm sad inside.

- Do I look like a man you want to fuck with?

- Things started to spiral for Aaron.

- You're going down, down, down, all of you guys.

- He drove to Nick's community with a gun in his car.

- I looked at him, and I was like,

what are you doing, Aaron?

Stop.

- Oh, my God, he's going to kill Nick or Lauren.

He's going to kill somebody.

- Sometimes I feel like it was my fault.

[slow pop music playing]

♪ ♪

- ♪ You took the sun out of the sky ♪

♪ You let the storm in overnight ♪

♪ And now I'm sitting here wondering why ♪

♪ You took the beat out of my heart ♪

♪ And now I don't know who you are ♪

♪ You've got me looking for the good in goodbye ♪

♪ It's time for me to let go ♪

♪ Hit me like a hurricane ♪

♪ Going to be a tidal wave ♪

♪ And now I'm back on solid ground ♪

♪ Tomorrow is a new day ♪

♪ Try to shake the pain away ♪

♪ Because I'm still in recovery ♪

♪ Whoa, oh, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ I'm still in recovery ♪

♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪

♪ Because I'm still in recovery ♪

♪ Whoa-oh, whoa-oh, whoa-oh, whoa-oh ♪

♪ Whoa-oh, whoa-oh ♪

♪ I'm still in recovery ♪

♪ Recovery, recovery ♪

♪ Yeah, I've come too far ♪

♪ Yeah, oh, oh ♪

[cheers and applause] Thank you.