Backstreet Boys Star Nick Carter Accused of Raping Dream’s Melissa Schuman
Former Dream singer Melissa Schuman has accused Backstreet Boys' Nick Carter of raping her.
Writing on her personal blog, Schuman, who performed in the "He Loves U Not" teen-pop group in the late '90s and early millennium, shared her harrowing story of being sexually assaulted by the boy band star during a house party sometime in the early 2000s.
Schuman claims that the incident, in which Carter performed oral sex on her against her wishes before forcing her to do the same for him, occurred in a bathroom in Carter's Santa Monica, California apartment when she was 18 and he was 22. Afterwards, she claims Carter then took her to his bedroom and forced himself upon her despite her protests.
The alleged assault occurred after the two were cast in the same "made-for-TV movie," 2004's The Hollow.
Schuman says the unwanted encounter began after the pair kissed.
"After kissing for a moment, he took my hand and brought me into the bathroom adjacent to his office," she writes. "He shut the door and we continued to kiss. I asked him what we were doing in there. He didn't respond and continued to kiss me. He then picked me up, put me on the bathroom counter and started to unbutton my pants. I told him I didn't want to go any further. He didn't listen. He didn't care."
She claims Carter then removed her pants against her will and performed oral sex on her, ignoring her demands that he stop. Frightened, she turned the bathroom lights off so she wouldn't see anything. "He kept turning the light back on because he told me he wanted to look at me," she writes. "I remember thinking at that point that maybe after this he will just stop, but he didn't."
After "someone in the house knocked on the bathroom door," Carter allegedly took her to another bathroom where he then "took off his pants" and demanded oral sex.
"I will never forget this moment," she continues. "...He sat himself on the bathroom counter and asked me to perform oral sex on him. I declined; he was upset. He told me, 'I did it for you, and it's only right you do it for me.'"
Afterwards, Schuman writes that Carter took her to his bedroom, "threw [her] on the bed" and climbed on top of her where he raped her.
"I told him that I was a virgin and I didn't want to have sex," she adds. "I told him that I was saving myself for my future husband. I said it over and over again. He whispered in my ear as to entice me, 'I could be your husband.'" Schuman says she felt "scared and trapped" as he was "stronger and much bigger" than she was.
In the aftermath of the incident, Schuman claims Carter harassed her by calling her incessantly and leaving voicemails for weeks, including "one last nasty, angry message." When she told her then-manager about the assault, she was told her "abuser had the most powerful litigator in the country" and that making her story public would hurt her career.
"I certainly don't want to be 'known' for this," she writes at the end of her post. "I never wanted anybody to know about my story. I wanted to lock it in a box in my mind and let the memories slowly suffocate as time went on. I feel I have an obligation now to come forward with the hope and intention to inspire and encourage other victims to tell their story. We are stronger in numbers. If you are reading this and you have been assaulted, know you don’t have to be silent and you are not alone. I know it's scary. I'm scared. I believe you. I stand with you and together I hope we can bring light to things that have been lost in the darkness for so long."
Carter has yet to comment on the allegations.
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