Nick Carter sued for alleged sexual assault, giving STDs that led to cervical cancer
Warning: This article details accounts of sexual assault.
Nick Carter has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman and giving her sexually transmitted diseases that led to cervical cancer.
According to the lawsuit, as obtained by PEOPLE Magazine, the 45-year-old plaintiff Laura Penly alleged that Carter assaulted her around 2004 when she was 19 years old.
Penly claimed that she and Carter had a “sexually intimate relationship” around December 2004 to February 2005 and would meet “approximately every few weeks” when she visited Los Angeles.
She added that the sex was consensual at least three times before the assault, which happened at Carter’s Hollywood apartment, per the lawsuit.
The document added that in early 2005, she went to his apartment but only to watch movies with the singer. As a response, Carter allegedly “told her no because the only reason she was there was to have sex.”
Penly claimed that she asked the singer to wear a condom, but Carter “refused,” which suggests to her that “he was ‘clean’ of sexually transmittable diseases."
The lawsuit alleges that the sexual intercourse “forcefully" happened on his bed, despite her “saying ‘no’ multiple times,” adding that Carter “failed to use protection" to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections to” Penly.
Penly also alleged that she was instructed to keep the assault a secret.
A few months later, Carter supposedly apologized, and Penly decided to see him again but was assaulted for a second time.
Penly accused Carter of infecting her with “various sexually transmitted diseases, including the human papillomavirus (commonly known as HPV), a sexually transmitted infection known to cause health problems such as cervical cancer.” The plaintiff said she tested positive for chlamydia and gonorrhea around July 2005 and was found with cancerous cells.
By August of the same year, Penly was diagnosed with Stage 2 Cervical Cancer and had to receive treatments that caused her “severe emotional distress, physical anguish, medical issues, intimacy issues, and other complex trauma.”
She also claimed that she had been harassed by the singer’s fans after she testified against him at a deposition.
Penly is seeking damages over $15,000 (over P850,000) and is demanding a jury trial.
For his part, Carter’s camp denied the allegations and dismissed them as the “same nonsense from the gang of conspirators and their lawyers” aiming to damage Carter’s family and career.
“Nick does not recall ever even meeting Laura Penly. He certainly never had any romantic or sexual relationship with her. Ever," his attorneys said in a statement sent to the outlet, adding that they plan to "fight" the allegations.
Penly is the fourth woman to accuse Carter of sexual assault, following Melissa Schuman, Ashley Repp, and Shannon Ruth, whose allegations were denied by his camp as well.
Per PEOPLE, Schuman's case will start in California in December, while the hearing for Repp and Ruth's cases will be in March 2026.
Carter is the vocal member of the superband Backstreet Boys and is married to Lauren Kitt with three kids. He is known for his solo albums, Now or Never, I'm Taking Off, and All American.
