Paramount+’s The Carters: Hurts to Love You shares Angel Carter’s emotional story, but at the same time avoids the abuse allegations against Nick Carter.
Following Aaron Carter‘s tragic death at age 34, a wave of public grief and cultural reflection swept across fans who grew up with the former teen idol. Known for his early 2000s music and guest roles on Y2K TV favorites like Sabrina the Teenage Witch and 7th Heaven, Aaron’s fall—from stardom into a spiral of mental health struggles and addiction—was well documented long before his death in 2022. But now, nearly two years later, a new documentary seeks to reframe the Carter family’s narrative—this time through the eyes of Aaron’s twin sister, Angel Carter Conrad.
The Carters: Hurts to Love You, premiering April 15 on Paramount+, is a two-part documentary directed by former child star and Sabrina alum Soleil Moon Frye, who also helmed the intimate doc KID90. The film is primarily narrated by Angel and offers a deeply personal lens on the Carter family’s complicated legacy. Featuring never-before-seen home footage and interviews with extended family, road crew, Melissa Joan Hart, Scout Willis, and even Nick Carter himself, the doc peels back layers of intergenerational trauma, dysfunction, addiction, and neglect that plagued the Carter siblings from childhood.
Only two of the five Carter children—Nick Carter and Angel Carter Conrad—are still alive. Their siblings Leslie Carter and Bobbie Jean Carter both died from drug overdoses (in 2012 and 2023, respectively), and their father Bob Carter died in 2017 of a heart attack. Their mother, Jane Carter (now Jane Schneck), declined to participate in the documentary and has not commented on any of the allegations presented.
Like Max’s 2024 docuseries Fallen Idols, which delved into Aaron Carter‘s decline and the toxic dynamics within the Carter household, The Carters spotlights the family’s long history of trauma. However, while Fallen Idols included Aaron Carter’s support of women who accused Nick Carter of sexual assault—and the online harassment he endured as a result—The Carters avoids this entirely. Soleil Moon Frye has been clear that this omission is intentional: the documentary was always meant to be Angel Carter Conrad’s story, not a comprehensive account of all the allegations surrounding the family.
Still, for viewers familiar with Fallen Idols, or the ongoing legal battles involving Nick Carter, the absence is glaring. Since 2022, four women—Shannon Ruth, Melissa Schuman, Ashley Repp, and most recently Laura Penly—have accused the Backstreet Boys singer of rape or sexual assault. Penly’s civil suit, filed just this week, alleges Nick Carter assaulted her in 2004 and 2005, infected her with STDs, and indirectly caused her Stage 2 cervical cancer. Nick Carter has denied all allegations and countersued Ruth, Schuman, and Repp for defamation (though a judge ruled he could not sue Repp). Those cases are still pending, with trial dates set through 2026.
Despite this ongoing litigation, The Carters gives Nick Carter a surprisingly sympathetic edit. The documentary opens and closes with him appearing in a gentle, almost paternal light—far removed from the image painted in Fallen Idols. While Fallen Idols showed violent footage from the 2006 reality series House of Carters, where Aaron Carter accused Nick Carter of being abusive, The Carters chooses instead to highlight a reconciliatory moment between the brothers, hugging and crying after a fight. Nick is also shown organizing family meals and helping with his siblings’ careers.
Director Soleil Moon Frye explains her approach was focused on creating a “safe space” for Angel Carter Conrad to process her pain and advocate for mental health awareness. “I really wanted to make a documentary that dealt with mental health and addiction [that] created meaningful conversations told through this heartbreaking, moving, beautiful, loving story of Angel, her family, and the intergenerational trauma that came through,” Frye told TIME.
Her connection with Angel Carter Conrad was personal. “There was so much noise out there about the family, [but] I really wanted to come into this with a pure heart,” Frye said. “I had lost so many people that I loved growing up to mental health and addiction. I met [Angel], and we just immediately connected.”
That connection granted Soleil Moon Frye extraordinary access to the Carter family’s private archives, including disturbing childhood footage. One clip shows Jane Carter warning a crying Bobbie Jean Carter, “You should tell the truth before you go to bed, or you could die in your sleep.” Another video depicts Bob Carter angrily slapping a young Leslie Carter before dunking her head in a pool after she splashed baby Aaron Carter. Jane laughs, calling Leslie “mean as spit.”
The documentary largely places blame for the Carter siblings’ suffering on their parents—especially Jane, who is accused by multiple family members of being manipulative and abusive. Angel speaks openly about how Leslie endured “unimaginable abuse,” and how the siblings were frequently pit against each other by their mother, especially after Jane and Bob divorced in 2004.
As for Nick Carter, his most prominent moment comes during a backstage reunion with Angel Carter Conrad after a Backstreet Boys show in Skokie, Illinois. Recorded on Frye’s iPhone, the two share memories of their childhood and reflect on the emotional damage caused by their upbringing. “We’re the only ones left,” Nick Carter tells Angel Carter on the beach. “The generational cycle, I want it to stop. I want to break it so badly… Our parents don’t define us. I know that, you know that. Unfortunately, BJ, Aaron, and Leslie, they did not know that. They had no idea they could get out.”
In the final scene, Nick Carter dedicates his song “Hurts To Love You” to Angel Carter Conrad and the rest of the family, closing the series on a note of bittersweet unity.
But for many, that ending may feel too tidy. While The Carters succeeds in telling one sister’s story of grief, survival, and resilience, it glosses over the darker, more controversial threads of the Carter saga—threads that have shaped public perception of Nick Carter and may have deeply impacted Aaron Carter’s own mental state. For those following the Carter family’s long, painful story, the omissions are impossible to ignore.
As Soleil Moon Frye set out to make a documentary about healing and safe spaces, The Carters accomplishes that for Angel Carter Conrad. But in skipping the full complexity of the family’s truth—especially the parts still playing out in court—it leaves viewers with a partial portrait of a tragedy still unfolding.
