As long as you love them! The Backstreet Boys have been tugging on fans’ heartstrings with their love songs since the ’90s, but the band members’ real-life romances have been just as sweet.
Nick Carter married fitness trainer Lauren Kitt in April 2014 after six years of dating. The pair went on to welcome son Odin in 2016 and daughters Saoirse and Pearl in 2019 and 2021, respectively. Kitt opened up to Us Weekly in June 2021 about how parenthood brought her and Carter closer as a couple.
“It just solidified everything that we’ve always had between each other — it’s just friendship and trust and love and also support,” she gushed at the time. “He’s supporting me now, and it’s been good in that respect to see us pulling together because we’re in the trenches. Like, it’s hard with three kids under 5.”
Before the New York native settled down with his wife, his romantic life wasn’t always rosy. In his 2013 memoir, Facing the Music and Living to Talk About It, Carter reflected on his experience dating Paris Hilton for seven months in 2004.
“Paris was the worst person in the world for me to hook up with,” he wrote. “[She] fed my worst impulses as far as partying.”
The other members of the boy band — AJ McLean, Howie Dorough, Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell — also found love amid their musical success.
Richardson and Littrell — who are cousins — got married the same year, exchanging vows with Kristin Richardson (née Willits) and Leighanne Littrell, respectively, in 2000. Dorough, for his part, wed Leigh Boniello in 2007.
McLean, meanwhile, opened up about going through a rough patch in his marriage with wife Rochelle McLean (née Karidis) in March 2023.
“Marriage is hard, but worth it. We have mutually decided to separate temporarily to work on ourselves and on our marriage with the hope of building a stronger future,” the duo told Us Weekly in a statement at the time.
The estranged couple explained that the separation would hopefully not last forever.
“The plan is to come back together and continue to nurture our love for one another and our family,” they continued. “We ask for respect and privacy at this time. Separation is hard enough without the commentary, please be kind and remember there are children involved.”
AJ and Rochelle share daughters Elliott and Lyric, born in 2012 and 2017, respectively.
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Keep scrolling to see the Backstreet Boys’ full dating histories:
