From a distance, it’s difficult to discern what exactly is going on in the current feud between brothers and former pop stars Nick and Aaron Carter.
But one thing we can say with absolute certainty is that the whole situation is incredibly sad and troubling.
The trouble started last week when the elder Carter revealed that he had filed for a restraining order against his troubled brother, alleging that Aaron threatened to kill Nick’s pregnant wife.
“After careful consideration, my sister Angel and I regret that we were required to seek a restraining order against our brother Aaron today,” Nick tweeted.
He added the hashtags "#mentalhealth #GunControlNow and #GunControl," seemingly in response to Aaron’s allegedly massive collection of assault rifles.
“In light of Aaron’s increasingly alarming behavior and his recent confessions that he harbors thoughts and intentions of killing my pregnant wife and unborn child, we were left with no choice but to take every measure possible to protect ourselves and our family," Nick later wrote.
Aaron responded with a bizarre social media tirade, during which he claimed that he had been repeatedly raped by his late sister Leslie Carter while he was still a child.
Now, he’s leveling similarly shocking allegations against Nick.
In a now-deleted Instagram post, Aaron accuses Nick of violently raping an elderly woman.
"Hey [FBI] my brother raped Mildred and told me in confidence in his pick up truck she was 91 years old and my brother told me he covered her mouth so no one could hear her scream," he wrote.
"Put me on a polygraph machine please [FBI] my mother knows she was taking care of two elderly women who were on hospice Mildred and opal who my mother was keeping alive," the 31-year-old continued.
"[FBI] what are you gonna do about that!? NOTHING! ?
"I’m REPORTING A RAPE FROM NICK ON SN ELDERLY WOMEN WHO WAS DYING AND WAS 91 that he raped. Strap nick up to a polygraph machine and a really good one please."
No word yet on whether or not there’s been any sort of law enforcement response to Aaron’s allegations.
But needless to say, these are very tense times in the Carter family, particularly if Aaron is as unhinged as insiders claim.
"Nick has beefed up security. There is definite concern for Lauren [Nick’s pregnant wife] and this situation has been very stressful for her," a source close to the situation tells Us Weekly.
"She’s very close to her due date but because of what happened previously with her pregnancies and the stress, they just want the baby to get here safely and there is concern that because of the stress she will go into early labor."
We’ll have further updates on this developing story as more information becomes available.