Nick Carter’s ‘DWTS’ Partner Sharna Burgess Speaks Out About Rape Allegation
Nick Carter’s former Dancing with the Stars professional partner Sharna Burgess is breaking her silence on her friend after the Backstreet Boy was accused of rape by former Dream singer Melissa Schuman last month. Sharna recently broke her silence on social media, posting videos to her official Twitter account to defend the boy band star.
Sharna had nothing but praise for Nick, a father of one, in the videos, where she described him as being “sweet and understanding” and kind to everyone when they danced together on Dancing with the Stars during Season 21 in 2015, coming in second place to Bindi Irwin.
“[Nick is] one of the most respectful guys that I have ever danced with on the show,” the DWTS pro continued in the candid videos per Entertainment Tonight, pointing out that Carter, who has denied the allegation made against him by Schuman, has been very open about his past struggles with both alcohol and drug abuse.
“What I loved about Nick was that he always took ownership of the things that he’d been through — the darkness in his history, the mistakes that he’d made,” Sharna – who danced with basketball star Derek Fisher during the recently wrapped Season 25 – continued. “He wanted to be very open about them and how he felt about them, even though they were very heavy and hard for him to say out loud, so that he could inspire other people to be better and learn from him.”
Part 1. These are only my thoughts, this is not victim shaming, y’all know me and I would never. Just because I support Nick, doesn’t mean I don’t support female empowerment or #metoo. They are both movements that I am a part of, here for and proud of. pic.twitter.com/J8Gz7dczhv
— Sharna Burgess (@SharnaBurgess) December 3, 2017
Part 2. Nothin but love. ? pic.twitter.com/AFiiKijclI
— Sharna Burgess (@SharnaBurgess) December 3, 2017
Sharna then continued by admitting that her former Dancing with the Stars partner always treated everyone on set with kindness when they danced together two years ago, no matter what their job on the ABC show.
“Everybody was treated the same by Nick… No one got more attention than the other and even in the most stressful of moments, not once did he ever speak to anybody badly, demand anything, become a diva or show anything ugly,” she said of Carter in one of the two videos posted to her account, adding that he showed nothing but “absolute gratitude” to be on Season 21.
Making it pretty clear that she doesn’t believe the sexual assault allegations made against him, Sharna then signed off the two videos by adding, “This is me saying, ‘Nick, I adore you. I think you are such a good person from the inside to the out, and I think that that will shine through.’ I think that the truth always shines through.”
Carter was accused of rape by Melissa Schuman, a former singer in the band Dream, last month after she posted a lengthy and graphic letter to her blog in which she alleged that the Backstreet Boys singer sexually assaulted her at her home around 15 years ago when she was just 18-years-old and he was 22-years-old.
Nick denied all the allegations made against him by the former pop star and said via a statement that he was “shocked and saddened” by Melissa’s claims.
“Melissa never expressed to me while we were together or at any time since that anything we did was not consensual,” Carter said via a statement obtained by Entertainment Tonight, adding that “this is the first that I am hearing about these accusations” around 15 years after they’re alleged to have taken place.
“It is contrary to my nature and everything I hold dear to intentionally cause someone discomfort or harm,” he then added.
Nick has stayed pretty quiet since he denied the rape allegations made against him, but returned to social media on December 3 to post a sweet photo of his wife and son to Instagram.
He told his more than 820,000 followers that he was “thankful for true love.”
“It’s the season to be thankful for true love,” he captioned the snap of wife Lauren Kitt Carter and their 1-year-old son, Odin, seemingly posing together by a Christmas tree, “22 days till the most wonderful day of the year!”
Nick then added the hashtags #family, #babies, #truelove, and #christmastime.
