Nick Carter is Shirtless Sexy

Former Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter is back in tip-top shape after being diagnosed with a potentially fatal heart condition eight months ago. Here’s what the 29-year-old healthy and sober singer told people People:

On the Hollywood scene party scene and all-night clubbing: “I would get tired because we were partying so much, so I would do a bump [of cocaine] just to wake myself up. I would be that person who would stay at these clubs till the lights come on and they’re playing, ‘Don’t Stop Believin’.’ People are looking at me going, ‘Is that Nick Carter?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, it’s me gacked up.’”

On being diagnosed with cardiomyopathy (a buildup of toxins in his heart, weakening the muscle so that had difficulty pumping blood): “My doctor said, ‘You need to change your lifestyle. I don’t want you to end up like that.’ I was like, ‘I don’t want to end up like that either.’”

On getting his life back on track: “I’m trying to make myself better. But I don’t regret anything that I’ve gone through, because it makes me who I am.”

On the salesgirl he’s been dating for the past few months: “I don’t believe in marriage [but I see myself starting a family] someday, a little ways down the line.”

On his two-story, colonial-style home just outside Nashville: “I had to get away from the temptations [in L.A.].”