Joey Fatone Recalls Wild Fan Scam Involving a Paternity Test During Early NSYNC Fame
Being famous and part of a popular boy band can lead to a few obsessed fans who will try anything to be a part of a pop star's life. NSYNC member Joey Fatone looks back at an encounter where a fan appeared on his doorstep, claiming he was the father of her child.
ID's Boy Band Confidential: Deep Cutstakes a deep dive into the spotlight years of the popular boy band in the mid-90s into early 2000s. Fatone details a wild experience he had during the start of the band's fame when a fan knocked on his parents' door while he was away on tour. He recalls his father opening the door, and the fan saying, "Hi, my name is such and such. That's your son's daughter' My dad's like, ‘I'm sorry?'"
The shock experienced by Fatone's parents is justifiable as the singer remembers getting a call from his mother, who was "hysterical crying." Unsure of what to do in the situation, his mother made him talk to the fan over the phone.
"And she puts her on the phone… she's like ‘Hey, I'm such and such. I don't want any money. We met a while back,' and it was the first performance we ever did as NSYNC, which was around 1996. What this woman told me is that we met, we hung out, we had a great time that night and then I hadn't seen her since," said Fatone.
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The moment led the NSYNC member to believe that his career was over, and the shocking possibility that he was a father. When NSYNC was formed, Fatone was roughly 18 years old at the time and in his early 20s during their early breakthrough years. When the tour ended, Fatone was even more surprised to learn that the woman had taken legal action against him with a paternity test.
As Fatone's mother was "losing her mind," the singer received a supposed birth certificate with both his and the woman's name on it. The piece of paper ended up being the smoking gun Fatone needed to prove he wasn't the father.
"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," he explained.
"The woman was just making the whole thing up. Basically, she wanted me to get a paternity test, take a photo of all of us walking into it so she would get paid by whoever wanted to list the story. And that was the only reason why."
Fatone dodged a bullet thanks to having noticed the small detail on the birth certificate. Fatone has been linked to his high school sweetheart, Kelly Baldwin, in an on-and-off relationship after joining NSYNC during the early years. They rekindled their romance in the early 2000s and had their first child in 2001. They married in September 2004 and had another child in 2010.
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This story was originally published April 28, 2026 at 11:33 AM.