Melissa Schuman Discusses The Fallout Of Accusing A Backstreet Boy of Rape

Schuman says she's received harassment, doxxing and industry silence since speaking up.

backstreet boys
Kevin Richardson, Howie Dorough, Nick Carter, Brian Littrell, and AJ McLean of The Backstreet Boys perform onstage during 2018 BLI Summer Jam at Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater. (Zachary Mazur/Getty Images)
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Melissa Schuman earned a place in Dream, a girl band that made its mark with hits like This Is Me, when she was 12 years old.  She stayed with the band— which signed with Bad Boy Records to join a mass of pop groups that were peaking in the 2000s — till she was 18.

Schuman said that the young pop stars made up a tight-knit group because they all toured together. Dream toured more with *NSYNC and Britney Spears than they did with Nick Carter’s group, the Backstreet Boys, so her experiences with the BSB were pretty limited.

But in 2012, she was shooting the teen horror flick The Hollow alongside Carter. In a lengthy blog post written this November, Schuman alleges Carter sexually assaulted her while they were hanging out with friends at his apartment on a day off from work.

“Not only was I assaulted, I was now at risk of that experience completely destroying my dreams. What do you do in that situation?” Schuman told The Daily Beast. 

Since telling her story, Schuman has been accused of being a fame seeker. There have been attacks on her personality and her personal home address and phone number were posted online. She faces harassment from fans and Carter’s bandmates have stood behind Carter, making the harassment worse.

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