Joey Fatone Says Paternity Scam Almost Ended His NSYNC Career

Joey Fatone is opening up about a disturbing encounter from the height of his boy band fame, revealing that a woman once showed up at his family’s home claiming he had fathered her child—an incident he now says was an attempted case of paternity fraud.

Speaking in Boy Band Confidential: Deep Cuts, the *NSYNC member recalled how the situation unfolded while he was on tour in the group’s early years. People notes that according to Fatone, the woman appeared at his parents’ door and told his father, “That’s your son’s daughter,” leaving his family shaken.

His mother called him in distress, handing him the phone, and the woman claimed they had met after one of the group’s first performances in the mid-1990s.

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Fatone said the allegation immediately raised an alarm. “I’m thinking to myself, ‘My career is over. Somebody’s telling me I have a kid. Is it my kid?’” he recalled.

After returning from tour, Fatone said he was hit with a paternity lawsuit and presented with what appeared to be official documents, including a birth certificate listing him as the father.

The turning point came when he closely examined the paperwork. “The font was in one type and then my name was in a completely different type of font, and you can see that it was white-out on it,” Fatone said, explaining how the inconsistencies exposed the claim as fabricated.

He believes the goal was to stage a public paternity test for media attention and financial gain.

According to the National Library of Medicine, while paternity fraud is difficult to quantify, it is often very rare. In disputed cases—where testing is pursued—a worldwide range of incidence from 0.8% to 30% (with a median of 3.7%) is found to be not the biological father.

The story adds to the growing list of behind-the-scenes revelations from the docuseries, which explores the pressures and risks surrounding late-’90s pop stardom.

Fatone, who also serves as an executive producer, joins other artists in detailing how fame created situations that extended far beyond the stage.

In the same series, former 98 Degrees member Nick Lachey described the extreme scrutiny his group faced, including label control over their image and constant pressure to perform without pause.