Backstreet Boy AJ McLean’s Sobriety: Three Reasons ‘Relapse Is off the Table’
Musician AJ McLean takes his sobriety very seriously for three reasons. In a conversation with *NSYNC member Lance Bass, the Backstreet Boy opened up about how his addiction to drugs and alcohol got started. McLean also revealed why relapsing again isn’t an option.
AJ McLean’s addiction began with Sambuca
During a conversation with Bass on his podcast, McLean opened up about how his addiction to alcohol started. “The first time I actually had a drink I was probably about 18,” McLean said on the Frosted Tips podcast. Ironically, he hated the beer he had with the girl he was dating. “It was gross, like flat water.”
His first “real drink” was at an end-of-tour party. “I was always the guy that would hang out with our crew or our band,” McLean said. “One of the guys handed me a shot and I tried to drink it … it was Sambuca. Then I went back for another one.” He liked the burning sensation and the licorice-flavored liquor became McLean’s drink of choice.
“Then I got alcohol poisoning [from Sambuca], so I moved to whiskey,” McLean elaborated. “Then Jack [Daniels] was my demise. Jack’s the one that ended me up in rehab for the first time; Jack led me to drugs.”
AJ McLean says ‘relapse is off the table’ because of his family
Before getting sober, McLean would often relapse and fall back into using drugs and alcohol. “… Even when I would relapse, I wouldn’t go on a bender,” he told host Alexis Haines on the Recovering from Reality podcast in 2021. “I am a chronic relapser, but I’ve never gone for like a month straight of just drinking and partying. It’s been like one night and then I’m sober for a week or two. And then it’s one night. It was always back and forth.”
Now, another relapse isn’t an option for the Backstreet Boy. “Relapse is off the table,” the father of two told Bass. “The fentanyl crisis is terrifying.”
To help prevent a relapse, McLean deleted every dealer’s number out of his contacts. “If I wanted to get drugs, I’d have to go to some rando at a bar or club and you don’t know what you’re getting,” he added. “That could be the end of me and I’m not going to leave my kids fatherless or my wife a widow because of something as frivolous as that.”
McLean shares two kids with his wife Rochelle DeAnna McLean: Ava Jaymes and Lyric Dean.
Backstreet Boys singer has been sober for almost a year and a half
“I’ve been sober now for almost 16 months — 17 months now,” the 45-year-old singer told Bass. “This is the first time that I’m finally on this true trip of self-discovery and I’m learning now what set these things off.”
McLean said despite being this outgoing guy, he has very low self esteem and considers himself an introvert. Consuming alcohol and drugs helped him be more outgoing, but he’s working on loving himself and recognize his self-worth in his sobriety.
