Nick Carter has responded to accusations that he raped Melissa Schuman, a former member of the girls group Dream. In a statement provided to Cosmopolitan.com via his reps, Carter says, "I am shocked and saddened by Ms. Schuman's accusations. Melissa never expressed to me while we were together or at any time since 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. "
As The Cut reports, Schuman detailed the alleged incident on her blog, Melissa Explains It All, this past weekend: "I am about to share something that I've wanted to pretend never happened since I was 18. A burden I thought I'd have to carry for the rest of my life and suffer in silence."
According to Schuman, after she and a friend were invited to Carter's Santa Monica apartment in 2002, Carter brought her into a bathroom, where they started kissing. "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 pick 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," she writes. Schuman claims that Carter proceeded to perform oral sex on her and demanded the same in return. According to Schuman, who was a virgin at the time, Carter then took her to a bedroom, where he threw her on the bed, climbed on top, and sexually assaulted her. "He was relentless, refusing to take my no's for an answer," she writes. "He was heavy, too heavy to get out from under him. Then I felt it, he put something inside of me. I asked him what it was and he whispered in my ear once more, 'It's all me baby.' It was done. The one thing I had held as a virtue had been ruined.'"
Following her story, Schuman took to Twitter on Monday to "thank everyone for their outpouring of love and support."
Read Schuman's full blog post here.
