Nick Carter, who recently filed a restraining order against his brother Aaron, is no stranger to public fights with people close to him.
The Backstreet Boys member has a history of tumultuous personal relationships. Nick was granted a one-year restraining order against his little brother in November after he alleged Aaron confessed to him that he secretly wanted to kill his wife, and their child, who was at the time not yet born. Aaron has strenuously denied the claims.
But the incident is not the first time Nick has been embroiled in controversy for his personal relationships. Earlier in his career, Nick had a high-profile relationship with hotel heiress Paris Hilton. The pair, once inseparable, had a mysterious and sudden break-up.
Years later, Nick would go on to slam her in interviews, once calling Hilton "the worst person in the world" for him to be with and accusing her of feeding his addictive impulses.
Nick was known for having a "complicated" relationship with his late sister Leslie before her death and declined to attend her funeral after she died of a drug overdose.
NICK AND PARIS
Nick and Hilton began dating in 2003, and the pair, both incredibly famous at the time, would become infamous for being a hard-partying couple who broke up bitterly.
Over the course of their seven-month relationship, they were photographed together at parties sharing PDAs and got tattoos together. Nick had "Paris" tattooed on his wrist.
Paris Hilton
But after they split, Nick was happy to dish and dis on his famous ex.
"I've dated nothing but normal girls," Nick told People in a 2004 interview. "(Dating Paris) was definitely a departure.
"Our relationship totally was based on distrust. She didn't trust me. I didn't trust her." he continued.
He claimed the break-up happened over the phone after the pair "agreed" they couldn't continue on any longer.
Nick dismissed claims Hilton left him, saying it was a narrative trying to be asserted by people in Hilton's camp. He said he didn't regret the tattoo.
"She'll have a place in my heart, always," he said.
He finished the interview saying he was "a wild and crazy guy" but would settle if someone came to sweep him off his feet.
In another interview with Access Online, he said the pair only had partying in common. "It just is what it is," he said.
Hilton's reps pivoted from commenting on the break-up at the time, briefing reporters about all the great things going on in her life: "Paris is busy working on her album and is starting a movie in August.
"She's also working on her jewellery line and her book. She is just concentrating on her career right now."
In his 2013 memoir, Facing the Music and Living to Talk About It, Nick returned to the topic of his relationship with Hilton. He lashed her, saying the pair were from deeply different backgrounds, and she was a bad influence on him.
"Paris was the worst person in the world for me to hook up with. (She) fed my worst impulses as far as partying," he claimed.
"I have not heard from her since we actually broke up, but I wish her the best. I think we just weren't made for each other.
"There are just different types of lives. I actually came from a sort of lower-middle-class family, I wasn't really born into money. I don't fault that that's her life and what she wants to do. I had a different path."
Hilton responded to the claims made in Nick's memoir nine years after they broke up. She dismissed what he said about her, saying he'd already made it as a singer and they didn't date for long.
"I don't believe I was a negative influence on Nick. We dated for a very short period of time almost 10 years ago and when we met he was already a successful pop star, I'm pretty sure that was the only thing influencing him at the time," Hilton said in a statement.
"I'm glad he got help for his problems and wish him all the best."
'CHANGES IN BRAIN'
Nick has been open about his previous battles with drugs and alcohol, and some reviewers described his memoir as a self-help book.
"I could've ended up a tragedy," Nick writes in his memoir. "During the height of my problems, I did ecstasy, cocaine and drank a large bottle of vodka a night. I regret taking ecstasy. The amount I did caused changes to my brain that are responsible for my bouts of depression now."
The Backstreet Boys will play Auckland's Spark Arena on May 16, 2020.
Nick said he began a serious drinking habit in his teenage years before he picked up a habit for other drugs like marijuana, cocaine and prescription drugs. He wrote that he would use bumps of cocaine to take the edge off his drunkenness.
"We'd chug beers and pound down shot after shot until we reached the semi-comatose state where the alcohol made us sleepy and lethargic. Then we'd do a bump of cocaine for an energy boost.
"My crowd made partying an extreme sport. We repeated that binge-and-bump cycle night after night."
He said his addiction ravaged his body, leaving his face "bloated" like in a "carnival fun house mirror". He said at the worst of his heavy drinking and overeating he gained 22kg.
The Backstreet Boys back in the day.
"My life plummeted to an all-time low," he said of 2005. He'd been arrested for a DUI and was ordered by a judge to attend 13 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, according to Radar Online.
Two years after the break-up with Hilton in 2006, Carter moved to Tennessee in an attempt to work his drug addiction out on his own through social isolation. He'd read about positive thinking and sobriety and was able to keep himself clean while he was isolated.
But Nick, still a member of Backstreet Boys, was back on the wagon, drinking "rivers of vodka" every night, saying he "drank like I was trying to drown the demons" when he went back on tour with the band.
He woke one morning, after a night of downing 20 shots of sambuca, certain he was having a heart attack. A doctor later diagnosed him with cardiomyopathy, a disease affecting the heart muscle that can be fatal. It had been caused by his drug and alcohol use.
He wrote in his memoir that he eventually came to the realisation that his life depended on him realising he had to "change or die".
'COMPLICATED': CARTER SNUBBED HIS SISTER'S FUNERAL
In 2012, Nick's sister Leslie died from a drug overdose, and he was not able to attend the funeral. He said he wished he could, but the nature of his family dynamic meant he couldn't. Leslie had a daughter who was 10 months old at the time of her death.
The Carter family, from left, BOBBIE JEAN (B.J.) CARTER, ANGEL CARTER, NICK CARTER, LESLIE CARTER and AARON CARTER
"I wanted to be at my sister's funeral, but my family has always had a complicated dynamic. I am trying to stay healthy, positive and focused," he told Hollywood Insider following her death.
Nick hosted a party at an Atlantic City nightclub five days after her death.
