Nick Carter used to drink a liter of vodka a day
Backstreet Boy Nick Carter has been sober for five years, but he reveals in his new memoir how he reached rock bottom in his addictions while dating Paris Hilton. In Facing the Music and Living to Talk About It he says his hard partying caused severe physical problems, including cardiomyopathy (a weakened heart.)
When doctors discovered what the alcohol and drugs were doing to his heart, it was a wake-up call for Nick, and he’s now been sober for over 5 years. He realized that he did not want to die. “I don’t want to be that person people read about and think, ‘That’s sad that he couldn’t stop it and killed himself,'” he reveals in the memoir. At the height of his addiction, he says a nightly ritual was Ecstasy, cocaine AND a large bottle of vodka. Nick especially regrets the Ecstasy because he believes it’s causing the depression symptoms he now feels. “I regret taking Ecstasy. The amount I did caused changes to my brain that are responsible for my bouts of depression now.”
“Paris was the worst person in the world for me to hook up with,” he says of his ex-girlfriend. He says things got so bad for him during the time he was dating the socialite, it could’ve “ended in tragedy.” Nick and Paris met through her bodyguard and dated for seven months in 2004. At the time he says they split because of trust issues. “Our relationship totally was based on distrust. She didn’t trust me. I didn’t trust her,” he told People. During their brief time together Nick got “Paris” tattooed on his wrist, and she got a tattoo for him in an unknown place.
Nick’s brother Aaron Carter is also believed to have gone to rehab, and their sister Leslie Carter tragically passed away from a prescription drug overdose February 2012 at age 25.
He’s now engaged to fitness guru Lauren Kitt, and taking one day at a time. “It’s hard,” he says. “But I’m constantly reminding myself that I like this person better than the person I used to be.”
According to the reviews on Amazon, Nick’s book, which came out September 17, reads sort of like a self-help book with a great deal of insight and substance.
