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Melissa Schuman Explains Why She Came Forward With Nick Carter Sexual Assault Claims
Melissa Schuman explained why she decided to come forward with her claims that Nick Carter sexually assaulted her in the ID docuseries Fallen Idols: Nick and Aaron Carter.
“I sat down one day with my computer and started writing about the details of the assault,” Melissa, 39, explained in a teaser clip for the documentary released on Thursday, May 23. “I didn’t publish it, and I sat on it. I deleted it at one point.”
Despite her initial hesitations to come forward with her allegations against Nick, 44, Melissa said she finally shared her experience when she was “triggered” one night.
“My husband looks at me and he goes, ‘Melissa, you cannot continue to live this way,’” she recalled of a conversation with husband Brandon Henschel. “I told him … I said, ‘I can’t publish it.’ And he said, ‘Do you need me to?’ And I said, ‘Yeah.’”
After the teaser clip was released, Nick’s attorney, Dale Hayes, Jr., issued a statement regarding Melissa’s claims. “These are exactly the same outrageous claims that led us to sue this gang of conspirators,” he said in a statement to In Touch. “Those cases are working their way through the legal system now, and, based on both the initial court rulings and the overwhelming evidence, we have every belief that we will prevail and hold them accountable for spreading these falsehoods.”
Melissa shared her allegations in a personal blog in November 2017, claiming that Nick had raped her in 2003. The alleged incident happened when she was just 18, and the Backstreet Boy member invited her to hang out at his Santa Monica apartment while they were working together on a TV movie.
The former Dream member said she went to Nick’s place with her friend on a day off from filming, sharing that he “provided liquor” for them and alleged he “asked me if I would like to come into his office and listen to some new music he was working on.”
“Naturally we started to kiss,” Melissa claimed, stating that “he was aware that I was a virgin and that I held to religious conservative Christian values. I was vocal about this.”
The situation became uncomfortable when Nick brought her to the bathroom, “put me on the bathroom counter and started to unbutton my pants.” She said she “told him [she] didn’t want to go any further. He didn’t care.”
“He proceeded to perform oral sex on me. I told him to stop, but he didn’t. So I turned off the bathroom light so I wouldn’t see anything. He kept turning the light back on because he told me he wanted to look at me,” Melissa wrote, alleging that he then demanded she perform oral sex on him. However, she refused and he allegedly became angry.
She continued, “It was evident to me, that I couldn’t leave. He was stronger and much bigger than me, and there was no way I would be able to open that door or have anyone help me. My friend couldn’t help me, I didn’t even know where she was.”
“So when he placed my hand on his penis my thought was the only way to get out was to get him to finish what he had started,” Melissa wrote. “That’s where I saw myself, my reflection, watching myself do something that I was sicken by. Watching myself be assaulted, forced to engage in an act against my will.”
While Melissa said that she wanted to press charges against Nick, she said she didn’t go through with the lawsuit because she couldn’t afford to battle the “Everybody” singer in court.
After Melissa came forward with her allegations, prosecutors in Los Angeles chose not to pursue sexual assault charges against Nick in September 2018 because the statute of limitations had expired in 2013.
Nick’s attorney, Michael Holtz, reacted to the case after it had been dropped. “Nick Carter was cleared today when the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office rejected the charges against him,” he said in a statement to CNN at the time.
“Nick has denied these allegations ever since he first learned of them last year, and was confident the District Attorney would conclude that there was no basis to pursue charges against him,” the statement noted. “He is happy to put this matter behind him.”
Fallen Idols: Nick and Aaron Carter premieres on ID Monday, May 27, at 9 p.m. ET.
If you or anyone you know has been sexually abused, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). A trained staff member will provide confidential, judgment-free support as well as local resources to assist in healing, recovering and more.
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