Nick Carter Wiki: Everythng To Know About The 'Dancing With The Stars' Musician

Nickolas Gene Carter was born in New York on January 28, 1980. Soon after, his parents, Jane Schneck and Robert Carter moved to Ruskin, Florida. To this day, he is a die-hard Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan. There, his four siblings were born, Bobbie Jean, Leslie, and twins Angel and Aaron. Carter started acting, singing and dancing at age 10, when his mother enrolled him in classes. During this time, he had a few cameos in well-known productions, like ‘Edward Scissorhands’. When he was thirteen, Carter met Howie Dorough and AJ McLean through a series of auditions, and they decided to form a trio. Through a co-worker, the group met Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell. The group of five auditioned for Lou Pearlman in 1992, who was looking to put together a new boy band. After selecting Carter, Dorough, McLean, Richardson, and Littrell for the group, he christened them the Backstreet Boys.

After achieving some minor success in Europe, the group released ‘Backstreet’s Back’ with the single “Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)’ in 1997. The album was a huge success, selling over 14 million copies and reaching number four on the Billboard Hot 100. The Backstreet Boys were rocketed to stardom. In 1998, Littrell famously sued Lou Pearlman, the group’s manager, for taking over $10 million from the success of the band while the members only received $300,000. Carter was the only member of the Backstreet Boys not to join the lawsuit. Later in 1998, ‘I Want it That Way’ was released in preparation for the release of ‘Millenium’, the group’s third album. The single was a worldwide hit, topping charts in over 25 countries. ‘Millenium’ was released at number one on the Billboard charts and became the best selling album of 1999 in the United States, selling nearly 10 million copies. It eventually went 13 times platinum and remains one of the best selling albums of all time in the United States. In 2000, the group’s fourth album, ‘Black & Blue’ was released and was extremely successful. After another sold out album tour, Carter decided to launch his solo career.

The Backstreet Boys began recording another album without him, while Carter focused on his new project, ‘Now or Never’. The album was released in 2002 and sold 17 million copies, becoming certified gold in the United States. He began to become famous without the Backstreet Boys, being ranked number nine on ‘People Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People’ in 2000, and ‘Cosmogirl’s Sexiest Man in the World’ in 2002. This launched a rivalry with Justin Timberlake that was highly publicized. Carter began work on a second solo album in 2003 but abandoned it when the Backstreet Boys began recording again. He also started dating Paris Hilton, with whom he was in a relationship with until 2004.

In 2006, Carter and his siblings appeared on a reality series called ‘House of Carters’. The show reunited the Carter siblings and had them live in one house together. Nick’s younger brother Aaron Carter was a star in his own right by then, and the reality series aimed to boost both their careers. 'House of Carters' only lasted one season, and a total of eight episodes. In 2007, Carter worked on the film ‘Kill Speed’, which was released straight to video in 2010. Carter has always been interested in film, even coming up with the concepts for two of the Backstreet Boys music videos, ‘Everybody’ and ‘Larger than Life’. In 2009, the musician appeared on the ‘Ellen Degeneres Show’ to talk about his struggles with alcohol and drug abuse. He revealed that he began drinking at the age of six, and that he became sober after being diagnosed with cardiomyopathy in 2008. His bandmate, Kevin Richardson, helped him sober up and in 2013 Carter published a book detailing his struggles titled ‘Facing the Music and Living to Talk About It’. However, in 2016, Carter was arrested in Florida for high levels of intoxication. In 2011, Carter released a second solo album called ‘I’m Taking Off’. The album did well in Japan, peaking at number eight on the charts and selling 20,000 copies.

After his book release in 2013, Carter proposed to longtime girlfriend Lauren Kitt. Together, they starred in a VH1 reality series called ‘I Heart Nick Carter’ about their upcoming wedding in Santa Barbara, California. Like 'House of Carters', 'I Heart Nick Carter' only lasted one season of eight episodes, with the wedding featured in the finale. 'I Heart Nick Carter' is currently available for viewing on VH1's website. The Backstreet Boys also appeared in the comedy film ‘This Is The End’, to promote their return to performing. 'This Is The End' is a Judd Apatow comedy about a group of friends including James Franco, Seth Rogen, and Jay Baruchel, who must decide what to do when the world ends. At the end, they all go to heaven, where the Backstreet Boys are performing 'Everybody'.'This Is The End' is currently available for viewing on amazon.com.

2015 was a big year for Nick Carter. He produced his own film, ‘Dead 7’, which stars Backstreet Boys Howie Dorough and AJ McLean, as well as his wife Lauren and former NSYNC members Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick. 'Dead 7' is about a zombie apocalypse and described as a mixture between horror, comedy, and western. 'Dead 7' is available for viewing on amazon.com. Later in 2015, Carter appeared on ‘Dancing With the Stars’. He finished in second place, behind Derek Hough. His brother, Aaron, had been on 'Dancing With the Stars' six years earlier in 2009, and finished fifth. It was announced in 2015 that Carter and his wife were expecting a child. In 2016, he and his wife welcomed their son, Odin Reign Carter. In 2016, Carter released his third solo album, ‘All American’. He and his wife also have their own fitness series called Kitt Fit, after his wife’s maiden name, Lauren Kitt.

Presently, Carter is 38 and lives in Las Vegas where he and the Backstreet Boys have a residency at Planet Hollywood. The Backstreet Boys are also in the process of recording their tenth album. His net worth is $35 million and he has been nominated for a total of seven Grammy Awards. Carter is involved with charities that support the ocean and sea animals. He invites his fans to keep up with him on his website, www.nickcarter.net, where you can find a wealth of interesting information about him, including that he sometimes missed his Blackberry.

In October of 2017, it was reported that a woman who preferred to remain anonymous had accused Carter of sexual assault in 2006. The woman and her friend spent a day with Carter and his friend, Rob Kalouch, who then took them back to an apartment and proceeded to assault the woman. Kalouch forced her to the ground and to perform oral sex on him, and shortly after Carter did the same. They also forcibly removed her clothes and touched her after she told them not to. The incident was settled in 2006 after a police report was filed by the woman and her friend. Carter denied all allegations and his lawyer cleared him of all charges. In a statement, Carter’s lawyer claimed that the woman was trying to extort money from Carter. However, just a month later, another report of sexual misconduct was discovered.

In November of 2017, Melissa Schuman, a singer with former pop group Dream, wrote a blog post entitled ‘Don’t Worry I Won’t Tell Anyone’, in which she accused Nick Carter of raping her in 2003 in Santa Monica, California. She decided to write her post after seeing the other woman’s report of Carter assaulting her in 2006. The details she gives in her blog post are highly disturbing, recounting that Carter forced her to perform oral sex and then took her virginity against her wishes. Schuman was 18 at the time of the assault and just filed a police report with the Santa Monica Police Department on February 7, 2018. As of February 8, Carter is actively under police investigation for the assault. The blog post and more about Melissa Schuman can be found on Schuman’s blog, ‘Melissa Explains it All’.

Carter’s statement regarding the Schuman’s accusations is as follows: “I am shocked and saddened by Ms. Schuman’s accusations. Melissa never expressed them to me while we were together or at any time since then that anything we did was not consensual. We went on to record a song and perform together, and I was always respectful and supportive of Melissa, both personally and professionally. This is the first that I am hearing about these accusations, nearly two decades later. It is contrary to my nature and everything I hold dear to intentionally cause someone discomfort or harm."

In an episode of ‘Dr. Oz’ that aired on December 1, 2017, Schuman said that she forgives Carter, and does not wish any harm on him or his family. She expressed that she came forward for her own healing, and to, “inspire other victims, other people who have been assaulted, to come forward and know that they have a voice”. In a tweet on February 7, 2018, where Schuman stated that she was officially filing a police report, she included the hashtags #MeToo and #TimesUp, which have been used to further the "Me Too" and "Time’s Up" movements within the entertainment industry. Since the New York Times broke the sexual harassment story about Harvey Weinstein, a big shot producer and former head of the Weinstein Company and Miramax, women in all parts of the entertainment industry have been speaking out about their own sexual harassment experiences. Schuman also credited RAINN, the Rape, Assault and Incest National Network, for helping her come forward with her story. If you or anyone you know needs help or has questions about sexual assault, you can find RAINN here: www.rainn.org.

Melissa Schuman can be found on Instagram at instagram.com/themelissaschuman and on Twitter at twitter.com/melissaschuman. Nick Carter can be found on Instagram at instragram.com/nickcarter and on Twitter at twitter.com/nickcarter.