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“I’m so nervous for him.” Lauren whispered as the guys got ready to take their positions on the set. “Thank God this isn’t filmed in front of an audience.”

“I can’t believe that Cass managed to book the show in such short notice.” I whispered back, darting a quick glance at Brian. Our eyes locked as he fumbled nervously with the top buttons on his black dress shirt. “I think he’s nervous for himself.” I added, standing up and walking over to where Brian and the rest of the guys were waiting.

“Is it horrible that I don’t want to do this?” Brian asked as I approached.

“Here.” I said, ignoring his question. “Let me do that.” I continued, gently pulling his trembling hands away from his buttons. I swiftly buttoned his shirt and patted the front of his collar into place. “It will be fine.”

“Thanks.” Brian sighed. He hesitated slightly before pulling me against him in a tight hug.

“You guys ready?” Rick Campanelli’s voice boomed as he arrived on the set.

Brian pulled away from me somewhat reluctantly at the sound of Rick’s voice. His shaking hands rested momentarily on my waist before he released me completely. I gave his arms a quick squeeze before hurrying to re-join Lauren behind the camera crew.

“What was that?” she hissed, as I reclaimed my spot beside her.

“Nothing.” I shrugged. “I gave the guy a hug.”

“It looked very intimate.” Lauren prodded. She kept her voice to a hushed whisper as the guys greeted Rick and situated themselves on the couches.

I rolled my eyes and pulled my phone from my pocket. I quickly composed a Tweet and hit 'post' as the director yelled for quiet.

@AmyCtrl
Want to know the truth? Watch @backstreetboys live on ET Canada RIGHT NOW!

Forcing what I hoped was a neutral expression onto my face; I turned my attention to Rick as he began to introduce the guys. The introductions were followed by a few minutes of friendly banter, and then Rick cut straight to the chase.

“So, the reason you’re all here is to discuss something rather serious. I understand that you had to cancel the show here in Toronto last night.”

“Yeah, we decided to postpone the show on rather short notice ...” Kevin said as he launched into a full explanation about the rescheduled date and the refund process.

As Kevin spoke, my eyes wandered to Brian. He was sitting in the middle of Nick and his cousin with his gaze locked on the floor. His right leg was shaking noticeably, and Nick gently reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder. Brian lifted his gaze from the studio floor and shot Nick an appreciative look just as Rick began to direct the questions towards him.

“Brian, I have to admit that I was shocked to see some questionable pictures of you surface this week.” Rick began. “I’ve known you since the beginning ... since Backstreet’s Back ... yeah, I was definitely shocked.”

“You and me both.” Brian spoke with a noticeable tremor in his voice. “Obviously, it has since been discovered that those pictures were digitally altered.”

“Altered?” Rick encouraged. “You mean that it’s not you?”

“No, it’s me.” Brian replied, wiping his sweaty palms on the legs of his jeans as he spoke.

“What is he doing?!” Cassandra half-whispered and half-shouted in frustration. I could hear her frantically flipping through the pages on her clipboard as Brian continued to talk.

“He was supposed to deflect any questions related to him actually being in the pictures. He was just supposed to talk about the stupid alterations.” Cassandra moaned. “I’m going to murder him!”

“It is you?” Rick asked rather incredulously. He began rifling through the cue cards in his hands as he darted a quick look at the producer. The mousey brunette gestured wildly for him to keep going.

“Yes.” Brian continued. “It’s me. Whoever is behind the pictures took a real image of me and combined it with footage from a pornographic website.”

“I see.” Rick stuttered. “So, you’re saying that you don’t know the girl in the picture and that you’ve never cheated on your wife?”

Brian winced slightly at the use of the term ‘wife’ before continuing. “I’ve never been unfaithful to Leighanne.”

“And you don’t know who has manipulated these images or how they got access to naked pictures of you?” Rick ploughed on.

“That’s right.” Brian acknowledged. “Whoever is responsible for this somehow managed to get their hands on pictures of me in a very private situation. It’s mortifying, to say the least.”

“What have the fans been saying? I’m sure that there are a lot of women out there enjoying certain aspects of those pictures.” Rick teased.

“I think the most important thing to take away from this conversation is that the pictures are fake.” Nick jumped in as he sensed his friend’s growing discomfort. “Brain never cheated on his wi ... on Leighanne.” He corrected.

“I’m sure that this whole situation has been difficult for her as well.” Rick prodded. “How has she been coping with the rumours?”

“We’ve separated actually.” Brian deadpanned.

Kevin visibly cringed as Brian delivered that piece of news. Cassandra had explicitly told him not to mention the fact that he had filed for divorce before they went on the air, and I could hear her gasp as soon as the words were out of his mouth.

“You’ve separated?” Rick repeated.

“The divorce process is in the beginning stages.” Brian supplied. “She’ll always be the mother of my son, but it’s time for us to go our separate ways.”

“Was this her idea? Did this scandal have anything to do with it?” Rick pressed.

“It was my idea.” Brian said as the confidence began to re-enter his voice. “I asked for the divorce.”

Kevin’s face reddened in frustration as Brian continued to speak. I knew that he was worried about the inevitable negative reaction from the press and the fans, and I could see him jabbing his cousin in the ribs in an attempt to get him to be quiet.

“This is obviously a very difficult time for Brian and Leighanne.” AJ interrupted, taking notice of Kevin’s behaviour. “As you know, Brian’s usually a pretty private guy, but he wanted to make sure that the rumours didn’t get out of hand.”

“I just wanted to make sure that there wasn’t any confusion.” Brain added pointedly.

“Of course…” Rick trailed off as the producer began sending him the signal to wrap things up. “Well, hopefully the next time that you’re here in the studio we’ll have something happier to talk about. Congratulations on the new album! I know the Toronto fans are looking forward to the re-scheduled show.”

The guys said their goodbyes and forced smiles onto their faces until the cameras stopped rolling. As soon as the ‘On Air’ light switched off, Kevin directed his frustration at Brian.

“What part of Cassandra’s explicit instructions did you not understand?” Kevin growled. “You do realize that the media is going to have a field day with your divorce announcement?”

“Exactly!” Brian shot back. “They’re going to have a field day with MY announcement. What did you want me to do, Kev? Wait for Leighanne to tell the world that we’re getting divorced? You know how she would spin it. She would make me look like a shitty husband and an even shittier father! Then what would happen, huh? We’d be fielding even more negative press.”

“This wasn’t the right time.” Kevin retorted. “You’d already confirmed that people have been looking at your dick … which you weren’t supposed to do either.”

“Come off it, Kev! I’m tired of being told what I can and can’t say!” Brian exploded. He stood up from the couch and stared angrily down at his cousin. “I can say what I want about my own life!”

“Obviously, you can’t say whatever you feel like saying!” Kevin challenged. He followed Brian’s lead and stood up so that now he was the one who was staring down at his cousin. “We hire professionals to protect us from ourselves. When they tell you not to say something, you’re supposed to listen to them!”

“I’ve been listening to the people we hire tell me what to do since I was eighteen years old. I’m thirty-eight now, Kevin. I think that I’ve earned the right to say whatever I want, when I want.” Brian seethed. “It’s my life that’s a disaster right now, not yours! If I want to be the one to tell the world that my marriage has gone to shit than so be it!”

“Come on fellas, let’s take a step back.” AJ interjected, gently placing his hand on Brian’s forearm. “The words have been said. There ain’t no taking them back at this point.”

“I know that there’s no taking them back. That’s the problem.” Kevin fumed.

“So what!?” Nick cried, springing to Brian’s defence. “Do you think Leighanne would even think twice about slamming Brian to the press if she had the chance? At least this way Brian’s made the announcement. He’s told everyone straight up that HE’s filed for divorce.”

“For God’s sake, Nick! Stop butting in where you don’t belong!” Kevin shouted. “You should know what it feels like to be the victim of bad press. You know as much as I do that Brian has just made things worse for himself … for all of us!”

“I DO know what it feels like!” Nick yelled. “I also know what it feels like to lose the support of someone you’ve known for practically your whole life. Kev, you shut me out when I made bad choices and my life fell apart. Don’t do the same thing to Brian.”

Kevin’s expression faltered slightly at Nick’s words, but he stood his ground. “I mean it, Brian. You should have waited until the divorce was finalized. Hell, you should have at least waited until you had spoken to Leighanne before announcing your separation on national TV.”

“I’m with Nick on this one.” AJ stepped in. “It was Brian’s announcement to make.” He turned to Brian as he continued; his voice softening as he spoke. “Bri, you were always one of the first people to stick up for me when I had my issues. You’ve dealt with all of shit that I’ve caused this group, so it’s only fair that I deal with yours. Although, I have to say that this doesn’t even come close to some of the crap that I’ve said and done on live TV.”

“Howie, do you want to weigh in on this too? Kevin asked. “Everyone else seems to have an opinion.”

The rest of the guys turned their attention to Howie who was still sitting silently on one of the couches. Rick, the producer, and the camera crew had all made a hasty, silent exit once Brian and Kevin had started shouting at each other. It was a good thing that the guys’ segment had been the only one that was being shot in the studio.

I dared a quick glance behind me and saw that Cass and Jason were still huddled together, watching the situation with their mouths slightly agape. Cassandra was clutching her phone and the press release so hard that her knuckles were turning white. She looked furious.

Howie held up his hands and slowly shook his head. “It’s not my fight.”

“You’re a part of this group. You’re going to have to deal with the bullshit just as much as the rest of us. You’re going to have sit there and field questions about Brian and Leighanne when the reporters should be focusing on the new music and the tour.” Kevin snapped.

“It’s still about the music and the tour.” Howie replied, reluctantly standing up and joining the standoff. “Once the novelty wears off, the questions will stop. You’re acting like this is the be all and end all of this tour. We still have a month and a half left of sold-out shows to play.”

“It will be eclipsed by the scandal, just like it always is ...” Kevin trailed off and shot a pointed look at both Nick and AJ.

“Kevin! The fact that I’m getting a divorce doesn’t compare to the issues that they went through!” Brian looked at his cousin as if he had suddenly spurted a second head. “They had addiction problems, rehab ... Nick lost his sister for crying out loud!”

“And you’re involved in some weird online sex scandal! Oh, sorry. I guess it’s only really half of a sex scandal. You’re technically only having sex with yourself, because the girl in the pictures isn’t really there!” Kevin ranted incoherently, his angry voice filling the studio. “Not to mention the fact that you’re divorcing your wife because you’ve been fucking a staff member!” He whipped around to face me as he delivered his final statement.

“What?!” Lauren screeched. Her eyes looked as if they were about to pop out of her head as she turned to stare at me.

I stared back at Kevin; my body frozen in shock. I could hear Cassandra gasp in astonishment and Jason mutter something along the lines of needing a desk job. I couldn’t force myself to speak, so I just stared dumbly ahead and waited for someone else to say something.