It’s been seven years since Melissa Schuman went public with her allegation that Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter sexually assaulted her in a blog post titled, “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anybody,” but she is still feeling the after-effects of making her story known to the world.
In ID’s new docuseries Fallen Idols: Nick and Aaron Carter, which premiered with its first episode on Monday night, the former Dream singer shared the gutwrenching details of the night she was allegedly raped by the then-pop superstar.
In the premiere, Schuman revealed that she was first inspired to speak out about the incident after discovering a Radar Online story about Carter’s alleged sexual assault of a fan, which she felt was very similar to her own experience that’d been haunting her for years.
Not only did she recite agonizing details of the night in question in Fallen Idols, but she also physically revisited the places she says she and Carter went before that alleged encounter at his apartment, which brought her to tears.
Melissa Schuman in 2001. (Theo Wargo/WireImage)
According to Schuman, she first learned of Carter’s interest in her from her band’s label reps. She said they thought it’d be good publicity for her to be linked to one of the biggest acts in the business at the time, despite the fact that she already had a boyfriend. Though their first call was “awkward,” they were introduced once again when cast in the film The Hollow. It was during a night off set for that production when Schuman claims Carter raped her in his apartment.
“I remember as he’s kissing me, I’m telling him, ‘I don’t want to have sex, I’m saving myself for marriage. I don’t want to have sex,’” she says. “I told him so many times, ‘I’m saving myself for my husband, my future husband.’ He’s like, ‘I could be your husband.’”
Schuman said she received a text the next day from Carter saying, “Why did you make me do that?” She went on to reveal her story to the mother of her friend, who was in the apartment the same night, along with her father. Schuman said that while others urged her to go to the police, her manager discouraged it, noting the vulnerability of her music and acting career.
Instead, she simply had to return to working right alongside him: “I learned how to really mask how I truly felt. Because obviously I still had to film with him on set, and he acted like nothing happened,” she explained. “After we were done filming, I changed my number, and I remember thinking, ‘Okay, that’s it. I’ll just avoid him for the rest of my life.’”
Unfortunately for her, though, her next manager, Kenneth Crear, was friendly with Carter and suggested they record a duet together. Schuman said that she agreed after learning that she would not physically have to sing with him.
“My first thought was, ‘Do I have to be alone with him?’ And Kenneth goes, ‘Oh, no, it’s already prerecorded. You only have to go in and do your part.’ I could feel Kenneth’s eyes on me like he was observing me. And he goes, ‘Nick is dating Paris Hilton.’ Why did he feel the need to say that? What did Nick tell him?” Schuman said.
That changed, however, when he arranged for Carter to sing at her record label showcase, during which she “froze.”
“I was scared, and I was very cold to him. And we sang our duet. I don’t even think I looked at him,” Schuman remembered. “Eventually, he goes, ‘Well, clearly we don’t like each other.’ That was the last words he ever said to me.”
Once she saw the Radar report amid the Me Too movement’s early days, Schuman decided to write a record of her experience, and it was her husband who had to push the “publish” button.
“Nothing could prepare me, my family, or my husband for what was about to happen,” she said, with more to come in the second episode and beyond, when the show returns on Tuesday, May 28.
Schuman has sued Carter for sexual battery, and he countersued Schuman and others who accused him of similar crimes for defamation. Additional documents related to the case are available on a dedicated docuseries website.
There were several disclaimers throughout the episode, including Nick Carter’s claim that his sexual encounter with Schuman was “consensual” and that his friend Tony Bass was there that night and corroborates his side of the story; plus, both her former manager and Kenneth Crear reportedly disputed her account.
Fallen Idols: Nick and Aaron Carter, Episodes 2-4, May 28, 7/6c, ID
If you or someone you know is the victim of sexual assault, contact the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network‘s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.