*Author's Note: As a referrence note to understand the circumstances surrounding this chapter, notions here for clarification purposes, are a direct parallel to those found in Chapter 29 and Chapter 30 of A Tale of Two Popstars.*

Aliesa Montaine and Nick Carter: In Love and Fame
Music, Modesty, and on their Married Life in the Spotlight

Modesty Matters
Aliesa talks candidly on relationships in the spotlight and why she just won’t “gush about Nick.”
By: J. Jules

     I have to admit I’m mildly surprised when I get there.  It’s relatively quiet and cozy in the room I’m ushered into.  Everything is, for the most part, ordinary looking.  There doesn’t seem to be any real frills to the place.  And that normalcy has caught me off guard.  Considering that we’re in a penthouse suite in one of the most prestigious hotels in the world, and that a night in this place probably costs more than I make in a year, I didn’t expect normal.  In fact I expected chaos.  But it’s far from that.

     Instead of the flurry of commotion and the entourage of people I was half expecting, it’s relatively quiet around here.  There doesn’t seem to be any diva commands going on, no rushing of personal assistants muttering under their breath, not even subtle traces of room service carts.  To put it bluntly, the air in the room, well it’s regular.  My interviewee, it seems, is relatively modest.  And for a woman whose name has been thrown around in the papers so often she might as well start charging for its use, that’s quite a feat. 

     At first glance, with her long brown hair loose around her shoulders and dressed quite casually in a floral skirt and a dark green spaghetti strap top that brings out the color of her eyes, she looks like the girl next door.  And if I didn’t know any better, I’d probably assume that the woman in front of me was an everyday twenty something, someone you’d probably encounter at a Starbucks or on a college campus.  But of course, I do know better.  This girl isn’t your everyday Frappachino drinker.  Her name is Aliesa Montaine, and she’s pop music’s latest critical darling.  

     “You must be from Rolling Stone,” she greets me warmly as she gets up from where she’s been sitting, talking quietly with a woman who is later introduced to me as “the one who keeps me working”, best friend and publicist Shannon Riveria.  “How’s your day been going?” she asks politely, her tone radiating friendliness, approachability, and for someone who’s been pushed into the limelight this fast, surprisingly no pretentiousness.  

    So upon introduction I feel obligated to be completely honest when I tell her I’m completely swammped.

     “I can relate to that,” she admits as she shakes my hand. “Mine’s been pretty hectic too.”  Aliesa explains how she’s been cooped up inside doing press stuff.  And as she toddles on and on about how she can’t wait to go outside and bask in the sunshine, I wonder for a moment if this girl’s for real. 

      There is an air of grace and delicacy surrounding Aliesa Montaine.  She’s also, I find as we continue to have idle chitchat, very candid for a celebrity.   I tell her so.

     “Sorry to be disappointing.  I’m so boring I know.  I really should throw a diva fit one of these days,” she muses.  “Seriously though… I’m not that wonderful.  I can actually be quite a pain.  Just ask Shannon.”  She points over to her friend.  “Just the other day she was complaining about me,” Aliesa offers as an example.  She leans forward,  “Make sure you get that one down…quotes and everything, with big bold letters.  I’m awful to work with.”  She pauses.  “And to live with.”

     I take that moment to inform her that’s not what Nick says. 

    Aliesa grins at the mention of her infamous husband.  (You may have heard of him.  He's in a little group called the Backstreet Boys.)  “You interviewed the guys a couple of weeks ago didn’t you?” After confirming that I have, Aliesa nods knowingly.

     “And he really said that?” 

     I reply that he and the other guys had nothing but good things to say about her. 

     “Well I’m sure they paid you to tell me that didn’t they?” she teases.  I vehemently deny it and slather on the compliments, and Aliesa just laughs them off, brown eyes wide with mischief.  “You can tell me what they really said.  Was it that bad?”  Before I can retort to that one, the cell phone beside her rings. 

      Startled, Aliesa tentatively eyes it, letting it ring for another moment or two before lifting it up to eye the Caller ID.   In a split second her smile has widened, an obvious indicator that it’s a call she wants.  I’m assured of that reasoning when she quietly asks if I mind if she answers.  Barely a motion from me that it’s fine is all it takes for her to pick up. 

     “Just thinking about you,” she greets the person on the other end of the line before bursting out in a giggle. 

     That’s the point Shannon subtly informs me that she must be talking to Nick because  “she’s glowing”.   I take a glance.  She is indeed, “glowing.”  Another small giggle escapes Aliesa’s lips, and Shannon tilts her head accordingly, “Definitely Nick,” she confirms as Aliesa smiles even more.  We both watch her amused. 

     Emotions splay across her face with each word.  Aliesa Montaine falls into the animated talker category. 

     “I’m in the middle of an interview…Rolling Stone!  Remember?  I am…” Her smile fades a little, and an eyebrow rises upwards.  “Oh really?” Aliesa fingers the couch material before biting a fingernail.  A nervous habit, she admits to me later on that afternoon, that she is trying to break.  “Wait, let me ask.”  Lifting her finger from her mouth, Aliesa looks over at Shannon,  “Are we doing a joint interview later this week?” she inquires.  Shannon gives her a brief nod and Aliesa is back to her conversation with Nick.  “You’re right…Are not…maybe… Nick!”  She exclaims.  Looking over at Shannon and I, a blush starts at her cheeks, a very attractive shade of red, when she realizes how loud she’s being.  “Nick…” she repeats, a little softer.  The blush however remains on her face.  “Nick.  You’re holding up my interview.”  A smile replaces the blush.  “Oh do you?” she singsongs, before breaking into a fit of laughter that rings out in the quiet room.  “Me too…say hi for me.”  She whispers a quick “of course,” and on that note, the hold she’s had on the phone drops.  Her eyes scan over to me apologetically,  “Sorry.  He has the worst sense of timing,” she explains. “And he rambles,” she adds lightheartedly.   “What were we talking about before he interrupted?”

     I remind her that we were in fact talking about Nick.

     That blush she was sporting moments before comes back, just briefly, before fading.  Snapping her fingers, she leans forward, “That’s right.  You were going to tell me all his dirty secrets.”  I spot that mischievous twinkle I saw earlier in her brown eyes.  “Did he say anything that I can hold over his head later?”  Shaking my head in the negative I say that he praised her to the skies.   She rolls her eyes.  And we return to the back and forth bantering we were engaged in before the phone call.

     Aliesa finally concedes to the compliments, when I admit Nick talked quite in-depthly about the media hype over their recent nuptials.  Our conversation turns serious when she admits to understanding why people are curious.  Crossing her legs as she sits back, she tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear as she conveys to me the flip side of having your personal life become water cooler talk.  It’s something of which has made her overly cautious of what she says and doesn’t say nowadays.  So much so that she’s quite guarded about discussing major details about her marriage.  

     “I learned the hard way I think… about talking about your personal life a lot.”  The statement is a subtle reference to her other relationship, the one with Christian Burns of British trio BB Mak.  “It has the tendency to come back and haunt you,” she elucidates when I ask what she means by that.  “It’s not that I don’t want to talk about Nick.  I do.  I want to gush you know?   He’s a big part of my life, of who I am.  And honestly, it’s a little hard not to just go off and base my entire conversation around him because of that,” she confesses.  “But the thing is, if it doesn’t have anything to do with the music why is it an issue?  That’s the mantra you learn once you experience public scrutiny.  At the end of the day that’s what it comes back to.  Not about what color flowers Nick bought me for our anniversary.  That kind of thing shouldn’t matter.  It should be about the music.”   

     I wonder aloud if that means she isn’t up to answering questions concerning her famous husband. 

     “Depends on what the questions are,” she replies cautiously.  I ask what color flowers he did end up buying for their anniversary.  And that familiar laugh tinkles in the room.  “Pink.  Roses actually.  They’re my favorite flower.”  She raises her hand and wiggles a finger.  “And he actually got me this ring.” 

     I take that admission as an opportunity to cut-in about an episode in Backstreet Boy Howie Durough’s club, Tabu, something covered by the press as the Lady In Red incident.

     Aliesa shrieks in embarrassment, “You heard about that!”  She quickly buries her face in her hands.  “That was so corny.”  From across the way, Shannon informs her that she loved the corniness. 

     Another embarrassed howl at Shannon, and Aliesa sighs resignedly.  Her fingers spread, and she looks at me through the small slits that appear.  “Okay I’ll gush just this once.  Nick’s a sweetheart.”  She clasps her hands together, her voice lowering.  “He’s amazing.  He doesn’t have to try to be.  He just is.  And that’s that.” 

     She smiles.  It’s a smile so bright, it's contagious, and you can’t help but smile back.  

     “Now we can talk about the music,” she suggests.

     Indeed.