Backstreet Boys’ AJ McLean’s ups and downs through the years

Overcoming obstacles. AJ McLean rose to fame as a member of the Backstreet Boys, but his global success came with its fair share of challenges.

In 1992, the “Larger than Life” artist auditioned for the boy band and became the first official member of the BSB. He was later joined by Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Kevin Richardson And Brian Littrell. After their formation, the music group rose to fame in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Despite the success, McLean has battled his own personal demons since the age of 22. During an October 2020 interview with Good morning Americathe ‘Shape Of My Heart’ crooner confessed to trying cocaine for the first time while on the set of BSB’s music video for ‘The Call’.

“The first time I tried drugs was literally an hour before my call time for ‘The Call’ video shoot,” he recalled GMA‘S Will Reeve. “I was outside the walls.”

McLean’s bandmates noticed a change in his behavior when he started skipping rehearsals and they intervened.

“They basically broke into my house and threw ice water on me while I was passed out in my bed,” McLean said. GMA at the time. “Everyone started to get it. I wasn’t myself anymore, you know. I was just living a lie.”

During his decades-long struggle, McLean has gone to rehab multiple times and twice admitted to overdosing. While we compete Dancing with the stars in 2020, the ‘Everybody’ artist credited his then-wife: Rochelle McLean, for staying by his side in his darkest times. (AJ and Rochelle married in 2011, but split in March 2023. The couple shares two daughters, Elliott and Lyric, born in 2012 and 2017, respectively.)

“My wife means the world to me, as does the fact that she is still here with me to this day, after all the bad things I have done in my life that have hurt people – especially her,” wrote he in an exclusive blog. post for We weekly at the time. “She has always seen the good in me and seen the past – as hard as it is to look past – all the bad things I did when I drank and did drugs. But things today are the best they’ve ever been, and I couldn’t ask for anything else.”

A few months later, AJ celebrated his first birthday after being drug-free.

“Tomorrow I’ll be sober for a year, which is crazy,” the “Quit Playing Games” artist said in a December 2020 episode of his “Pretty screwed up“podcast. ‘As long as I keep my side of the street clean, I can’t worry about keeping your side of the street clean. And basically everything went smoothly. I feel much better.”

Keep scrolling to see AJ’s ups and downs over the years: