Nick Carter traveled the world as part of the Backstreet Boys, one of the late 90s quintessential boy bands. But the 33-year-old star has said that he spent most of his years of fame drunk or high. He's now penned his first tell-all, "Facing the Music and Living to Talk About It," about his struggles with substance abuse.
“Family legend has it that when I was two years old, I crawled into one of the Yankee Rebel’s liquor storage rooms where I was caught drinking for the first time,” Carter wrote of early life living above his parents bar and strip club. “My parents always laughed at that. I laughed too, for a while, and then I didn’t laugh at it any more.”
He said that his BSB bandmates noticed his excessive drinking and drug use -- his vices included alcohol, marijuana, painkillers, cocaine and Ecstasy:
They told me that I had the potential to be a better person and make more of my talents. They knew I had a good heart and soul and wasn’t using my head. The guys warned me many times that my partying was out of control and that I was headed for serious trouble.
Of his Ecstasy use, Nick said:
I probably regret taking that illegal and dangerous drug more than anything I’ve ever done. I’m afraid the amount I did caused changes in my brain that are responsible for bouts of depression that I now struggle to control.
Carter also name-checked his ex girlfriend, Paris Hilton, as one of his bad influences.
“Paris was the worst person in the world for me to hook up with," he said of the socialite and television personality he dated from 2003 to 2004. "[She] fed my worst impulses as far as partying.”
After a few health scares, the singer cleaned himself up.
“I’m not perfect now," he said. "I still slip up when it comes to drinking. But I’m alive and great things have happened for me in the last few years. I would have missed them. I’m glad I didn’t. Take care of yourself so you’ll be present for the great things in your life too.”
Carter told the Miami Herald that he wrote the book because he "wanted to give back," figuring he had a few things to teach younger generations of aspiring artists. "I have been in this business a long time,” he said.
“It’s deep," he said of the book. "It’s kind of a peek into intimate parts of my life."
Carter is now planning a VH1 reality show about his life with fiancé Lauren Kitt.
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