CONTENT WARNING: The following contains a graphic description of rape and sexual assault.

Singer and actress Melissa Schuman, a former member of US girl group DREAM, has published a powerful blog post in which she accuses Nick Carter of raping her in 2004.

She claims that the Backstreet Boys star, who was then aged 22, forced himself on her at his apartment. The pair were working on a made-for-TV-movie together at the time.

After the pair started kissing during the visit, Schuman claims Carter undid her pants despite the then-18-year-old’s protests.

He was aware that I was a virgin and that I held to religious conservative christian values. I was vocal about this. Everyone knew about this, including those who repped me.

In her unflinching account, Schuman recalls how Carter “didn’t listen” and “didn’t care” when she said she didn’t want to go any further, and “proceeded to perform oral sex on me. I told him to stop, but he didn’t.”

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She claims he then forced her to perform oral sex on him, before taking her to a bedroom.

He threw me on the bed and climbed on top of me. Again, I told him that I was a virgin and I didn’t want to have sex. I told him that I was saving myself for my future husband. I said it over and over again. He whispered in my ear as to entice me, ‘I could be your husband’.

Schuman alleges that the singer then raped her, and says: “The one thing I had held as a virtue had been ruined.”

She says she withdrew from friends and family as she processed what had occurred, and Carter tried repeatedly to contact her.

He called me over and over and over again and I wouldn’t pick up. I didn’t want to hear his voice. He jammed my phone with calls for weeks, leaving me messages demanding I speak with him. Then he finally left me one last nasty, angry message and he never called me again.

Though Schuman told her manager, Nils Larsen, at the time as well as her therapist, family and friends, she had never spoken out publicly as she “never had the platform” to. Though people close to her asked if she would speak out after Harvey Weinstein had over 100 claims of sexual misconduct levelled at him, Schuman still didn’t feel ready to come forward.

It wasn’t until RadarOnline published a report about an anonymous woman claiming that Carter had raped her that Schuman decided to speak out, thanks to the victim blaming comments left on the article.

Victim shaming is a core reason why victims don’t speak out. The last comment is exactly what keeps victims, like myself, from ever speaking out. The victim in the above article remains unnamed and I can’t blame her. I can’t help but feel empathy for her as well as [sickened] by the lack of belief and support.

You can read Schuman’s full account on her blog HERE. At time of writing, Carter hasn’t commented publicly on either allegation.

We’ll keep you updated on this one as it develops.

If you would like to speak to a counsellor about sexual harassment or assault, call the people over at 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732 for 24/7 support.