AJ McLean recalls Backstreet Boys being 'at wit's end' during 'dark times'

AJ McLean just recalled a hard time he had with his band, Backstreet Boys.

With the 46-year-old always remaining vocal about his personal struggles, in the band’s Paramount+ documentary, Larger Than Life: Reign of the Boybands, he explained how the group decided to back off amid wild popularity and fame due to different personal difficulties.

"With the Backstreet Boys, there was never a breakup, but 2001 was a really dark time,” McLean began.

He continued, “We had toured for nine years straight, just go on tour, make an album, go on tour, make an album. And instead of dealing with my real emotions or my feelings, I kind of got caught up in the lifestyle and the partying and the drinking and the drugs.”

"And it wasn’t until I did what I told myself I would never do — which was drink on stage — that's when I even had to know, ‘OK dude something’s not right,’” the I Want It That Way hitmaker confessed.

With that, the singer took it upon himself to get help and support with his problems, with additional strength provided to him by his bandmates, despite their relationships being strained at that time.

McLean made the decision to get help, with the support of his bandmates, though their relationships were strained at the time.

"The day that I flew from tour into rehab, everybody was just at their wit’s end," he acknowledges recalling his first attempt at sobriety in 2001.