The socialite and the Backstreet Boy were no Britney and Justin, at least as far as “aw, remember how great that was?” rosy nostalgia goes. After seven months of dating, during which the Salomon sex tape came out, they broke up in July 2004, with Carter telling People theirs was a relationship “based on distrust.”
The aftermath goes like this: They split up July 22. On July 26 Hilton was out partying with Nick’s brother Aaron Carter, Bijou Phillips and Nicky Hilton, when they ran into Nick in Hollywood. According to Nick’s lawyer, Paris went home with him; the next morning he drove her to a meeting. The next time Paris’ photo was taken, on July 28, 2004, she had bruises on her face. Carter denied having anything to do with it, telling People, “I’ll tell you one thing: I didn’t touch her. I’m not that kind of guy. I would never do that.”
In 2006, Carter unloaded on Ryan Seacrest‘s KIIS-FM show, claiming he hooked up with Ashlee Simpson to get back at Hilton for cheating on him with her House of Wax co-star Chad Michael Murray, who was married to Sophia Bush at the time. He didn’t mean to hurt Simpson, he said, but “Paris and her are two different people and Ashlee is a good person from what I know…and I’m not saying that Paris is a bad person, but I’m saying she’s got to work her problems out.”