When we met Nick Carter, he looked
like he'd just rolled out of bed. His
hair was messy and sticking up in all
directions. His shirt was untucked.
His jeans were rumpled,
fresh-from-the-floor-ish. You might
think this angel of the Backstreet
Boys would be surrounded by
bodyguards, slick with hair goo, and
armed with an ever ringing cell
phone. (really, the guy is a
zillionaire!). But actually, Nick is a
very tall, very broad, very cute boy
next door. "I'm Nick," he said,
introducing himself to everyone
from the photographer to the
caterer. Yeah...we know.
It was fun breaking the news to him
that CosmoGIRL!s voted him the
Sexiest Guy in the World. "Really"?
he asked, smiling and even blushing
a little. He seemed genuinely
surprised. "Is this recent?" he
wanted to know (yes!). "Wow."
Nick, who joined the group when he
was just 12, is at 22 getting his own
groove. With his new album Now or
Never, due out this fall, Nick is
happy-and single! We caught up
with him in a Los Angeles photo
studio to talk about true love,
getting into trouble, and going solo.
Heartbreak City
"If you find somebody, and they bring you down, you're going flat on your face." Nick
says. "There are a couple of times that I've really let myself get hurt." Before the Backstreet
Boys' Black & Blue tour, Nick fell for an up-and coming-singer. "I was like, this girl's really
cool," Nick says. Then he starts talking more intensely. "I even flew her out to hang out
with me before the tour started."
Nick pauses for a second. "But I found out the only reason she was with me was, she
wanted to come on tour with us - with her group as the opening act!" And the worst part of
all was how Nick found this out: The girl's boyfriend called. That's right. She was using Nick
and cheating on him. "I don't know what I was thinking," he adds. "It was messed up. I
cared about her a lot.I hope she reads this someday-she knows who she is!" Nick wouldn't
reveal the girl's identity (we tried!):"Her name starts with a D-that's all I'll say." But we could
tell Nick's still a little hurt by what this girl did to him, so we let him rant for a bit before
changing the subject. "If you want to be with a person," Nick says, "You should like the
way they are, not just who they are." He sighs: 'That's such a waste of time!"
It wasn't the first time Nick fell hard and got hurt, of course. You've probably heard about
his very-public break-up with long-time girlfriend Willa Ford in October 2000. They were
living together; they even had dogs together. During that time, she was trying to get her
own recording career off the ground, while he was tring to get their relationship under
wraps. "I'm pretty private," Nick says.
"I don't like to expose too much about what's going on in my life when it comes to
relationships becuase people start asking questions, and then everything about your life
becomes open. But she always wanted me to tell everybody about us." When Willa got
her own record deal, their relationship eventually fell apart. Nick's fans, thinking Willa was
just using him, were outraged. They put up dozens of "I hate Willa Ford" Web sites with
names like saynotowillaford.com and willafordsucks.com .But Nick never talked meanly
about his ex. "When you talk about your relationship in the media, that's the reason a lot
of bad stuff happens.," he says. "I just don't talk about that stuff very much. People start
to make assumptions. It's bad." Okay, Nick. We can take a hint. Moving right along...
Under Arrest
Back in January of this year, hust after the Black & Blue tour ended, and the Backstreet
Boys were on hiatus, Nick was feeling restless, deciding what to do next in his life. "I was
out having fun at a club [in Tampa], and there was a fight going on outside," he says.
"The cops were trying to clear the area, and this guy came up to me-he wasn't even in
uniform-and said, 'Get into the car.' And I asked 'Why?' To this day, I swear on my soul, I
didn't do anything wrong." Really? "I didn't do anything," Nick insists. "I was just in the
wrong place at the wrong time, and basically, it turned out bad." Very bad. When police
handcuffed Nick and put him in the back of their patrol car, he started crying.
"It's okay to cry", he says. "I'm no Tommy Lee, you know." Nick was charged with
resisting a law officer, and as part of his punishment, he had to do community service in a
local hospital. Looking back, Nick says he's actually glad it all happend. "I got to visit
some sick kids and it was awesome; I mean, these kids were so happy," he says.
"Seriously, I want to thank the Tampa Police Department for arresting me."
The arrest forced Nick to stop doing so much partying and start doing a lot of
soul-searching. "I used to believe I had different personalitles-a really serious one and one
that's really crazy," he says. "I got in this band and went through a stage where I wanted
to party. There were points where I didn't care about myself. I was like, the hell with it, you
know?" During that time, he says, " I was starting to be some guy that I didn't like." But
after the arrest, Nick cleaned up his act. "I believe things happen for a reason," he says.
Flying Solo
"In the Backstreet Boys, all
the stuff we were writing was
like 'I'll Never Break Your
Heart.' But I wanted to write
the opposite!" Nick smiles. "
Iwanted my songs to have
that fun-type vibe."
After 10 years of being the
"little brother" in the
multiplatinum band, Nick is
finally ready to break out on
his own. "When you're in a
group of older guys, they
want you to look and act a
certain way," says Nick.
"There were times when we'd
be performing when they'd be
like, 'Calm down Nick, you've
got to be more mature.'" As a
result, sometimes Nick felt like
he couldn't truly be himself.
"It's hard when you're on this
roller coaster, and you don't
know what the hell is going
on, and all you do know is
what you're supposed to do,"
he says.
But now, Nick's calling all the
shots, and the freedom feels
great. "I feel like I can say
stuff that maybe I couldn't say
before," he says. "When
you're with a group, you tend
to have to go with what
everyone else is doing."
Nick says the album allowed
him to try something different.
"I decided to go into the
studio and start building
something on my own to see
if I even have it," he says. But
he's anything but cocky about
being a solo star."The reason
I'm doing this is because it's
been in my heart for so long
to get out some emotions that
I've held in as a little kid being
in an adult world," he
explains. "I've always been
very passionate. Hey, I might
not be the best singer or the
best dancer, but I have a lot of
heart."
Family Affairs
While working on the new album, Nick has been busy reconnecting with his family-and he's got a
fresh new tattoo to prove it: two small black feet that look someone's standing on his chest. "My
dad has Blackfoot Indian in him, and my grandmother was half Blackfoot Indian too, so I have
Blackfoot Indian in me," he says. And on him (he he). Nick also has a Native American-style tattoo
of a chain around his right arm, and a shark and a musical note elsewhere on his body.(No, we
didn't see all of these personally, but we know they exist!)
Nick lives near his parents in Tampa and is close with his brother, Aaron, and his sister, Leslie. His
first writing credits were actually on Aaron's debut CD, and he's been known to jump on the stage
with his baby brother. He's also around to stare down Leslie's boyfriends. "Leslie is 16 and her
boyfriend is 18, and I don't even like talking about it," says Nick. "I just want to protect her make
sure everything is cool. And if anything happens, I'm going to bust his ass!"
Looking for Love
Nick tells us he's been
single for a year and a half,
which we find kind of
shocking, considering that
he's totally romantic. After
all, this is a guy who (like
Leo in Titanic) likes to draw
his girlfriends. "The face is
everything," Nick tells us.
"You can see the soul of a
person in her eyes. That's
what attracts me most." We
wanted to know what kind
of girl Nick is looking for
(just out of curiosity!). "I'm
not picky," he says. "I've
dated all different types of
girls. As long as they have
a good heart, and they're
cool inside, that's all that
really matters to me." You
might think that Nick is
super-confident around
girls, given that we know
millions who are waiting for
him to ask them out, but
actually, Nick's a little
rejection-phobic. "I'm a shy
dude," he says. "I like it
when someone comes up to
me. It's hard for me to go up
to a girl and start a
conversation. I know I'll get
tongue-tied and say the
wrong things." Aww!
Nick also let us know that
he's in no rush to get back
into a relationship right
now. At this point in his
life, he's finally happy to be
on his own. "I'm doing stuff
that I've been dying to do,
and I'm loving it so much,"
he says.
"And when it comes to
women, if somebody comes
along and understands
what I'm doing and
understands where I'm at,
then that's cool. But I'm not
out there looking like I used
to be." He adds. "I used to
think I needed to find
somebody. You know,
everybody's right when
they say, 'When you're
looking you don't find it.'
So I'm just dating, and I'm
so happy right now."
Brian Thomas Littrell ~ The Golden Voiced Backstreet Boy
- Established Jan 1999 -