Backstreet Boys star AJ McLean moving to New York
Backstreet Boys star AJ McLean has revealed he's moving to New York so his two daughters can go to school there.
AJ McLean has revealed he's moving to New York so his two daughters can go to school there.
The Backstreet Boys star, 48, has been living in Las Vegas for the last few years has decided to move to the other side of the country to support Elliott, 13, and Lyric, 11, who he shares with his estranged wife Rochelle, after both girls won places at an exclusive dance school on America's East Coast.
AJ told PEOPLE: "My daughters are incredible competitive dancers, and they got into a really amazing school for that out here."
The singer added of his move to the Big Apple: "I can't wait".
AJ - who split from wife Rochelle in March 2023 - previously told the publication Elliott was embarrassed by her dad's music because other kids at her school would sing Backstreet Boys track I Want It That Way at her.
He explained: "My oldest daughter hates that song, hates it with a passion. Because she gets teased at school when she walks into school.
"When I drop her off, the boys [sing the lyrics] 'Tell me why,' and she's like: 'Stop doing that'. And then I start doing it to embarrass her because that's what dads do."
It comes after AJ revealed he's asked his bandmates to call him by his real name when he isn't working.
The 48-year-old singer - who has been open about his struggles with substance abuse - realized after entering a treatment program in 2023 for "love and relationship addiction" that he needed to set new boundaries, which included separating himself from his pop persona, and part of doing that was to insist his loved ones call him Alex James, rather than AJ.
He told the New York Post newspaper's Page Six column: “My sobriety was on lock, but I wanted to dig a little deeper and find out what was at the root of my addiction.
"[Being] AJ McLean from Backstreet had its perks … It also had it’s downfalls. And so going on this little self-realization moment, I learned boundaries, something I never really utilized in my life.
"AJ is a character in a band and doesn’t define who I am. Alex got stifled for the last 40 years. The two entities, which are one, can coexist.
"I immediately set up boundaries with my bandmates first, and my family, and said: 'Hey, like, when I’m not in work mode with you boys, call me Alex'.
"It took a little adjusting … but it’s been such a, like, revelation to finally be comfortable in my own skin."
