AJ McLean has asked the Backstreet Boys to use his real name when he isn't working.

The 48-year-old singer - who has been open about his struggles with substance abuse - realised after entering a treatment programme 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-realisation moment, I learned boundaries, something I never really utilised 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," he said.

The Building the Band host is launching a solo career with his new album Hi, My Name is Alexander James, and he admitted it has been "terrifying" to step out without his bandmates, but he is ultimately ready to reclaim his identity.

He said: "[It's] terrifying at first because, you know, you are so used to having four shoulders to lean on, but you have to kind of lean and lean into that uncomfortableness… you have to lean into the fear.

"I'm reintroducing myself as me, and the world knows me as AJ McLean from the Backstreet Boys… I don't expect that tag to not be attached to me this first go around, but eventually, I'd like to, you know, be able to stand on my own two feet."