Carter Willson

*"carter willson, carrier of stablity, keeper of voes. bringer of light, equal to an infitite" -* brynnerd

## Physical description

### Height

1m80

**Carter Willson** is the guitarist of the band *Brynnerd,* which he founded together with Brynnerd Engelbrecht in 2010. He is best known for being the first person to receive the Spectral Eye surgery, which was performed on the 8th of december in 2010. He is the first person to have a working bionic eye.

He is known for his precise playing technique, despite having no training in music. He is seen as the second most contributing member of the band, being a soundboard for Brynnerd. He also plays in the band *The Smile,* which is a solo project between him and Brynnerd. He is known for his public speaking, often appearing in interviews on various topics. *Time Magazine* named him in the top 10 influential speakers list of 2018.

Carter grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he was also born. He is the eldest of two siblings, having a younger sister. Carter attended *NYU* briefly to study music after his newfound fame, but soon dropped out of the course in 2013. He never got a college degree, and holds his High School diploma from the Grand Rapids High School.

He currently resides in New York City, and commutes often between LA and Seattle.

## Personal Life

Carter is known to be very public to the public eye, being perhaps the most open member of the band, together with Tim Vanderweele. He often reveils a lot in interviews and Tim's documentaries. Currently, he is working on a memoir about the band called *Pike Basement.*

He is close friends with the actor *Josh Hutcherson,* and often visits him in Spain. Other friends of his include *Andrew Garfield*. By the media, his friend group were coined the *Greenwich Brat Pack,* refering to the place where meet-ups would often take place. In 2018-2020 they were heavily papparazied, often being the talk of gossip pages since their appearances were very public.

Carter has publicly dated musician *Claire Boucher* in 2015, writer *Cassandra Ellison* from 2018 to 2019, and is currently dating actress *Natalie Portman.* Often rumours have spread about him dating his bandmate Brynnerd, most notedly in 2014 and 2021, but they have been disproven to be false. It has been noted that they have a very close friendship, which even lead to Cassandra breaking up with him.

*"They have this very close bond that made it very difficult for me to navigate our relationship. They have to see each other every week, even if they're on seperate parts of the globe. And in New York, they practically shared a house together, made their breakfasts together and ate dinner every night. The both of them have their own language, own way of communicating. He needed to spend time with her to feel alright. I don't know. I was welcomed with open arms but it wasn't for me. I guess I just don't understand the close bond they've built up. He was there since she was 17, and I only just arrived. Anyone would think the two of them are a married couple."* Cassandra commented briefly in an interview with the Post.

His relationship with Natalie garnered some controversy in the beginning, since it started very soon after her husband cheated on her. Also, she is ten years older than him, which put it even more in the spot light. She has commented openly to be extremely happy with him, but they remain very private from the public eye.