AJ McLean Says ‘Life Is Just Beautiful’ After 2 Years of Being Sober (Exclusive)

AJ McLean celebrates getting sober.

The Backstreet Boys star, 45, said his “life is beautiful” while talking to PEOPLE about his two-year sobriety journey at the Celebrity Poker Match supporting The Actors Fund in Los Angeles on Sunday.

“[It’s been a] I’ve been sober now for a little over two years and life is just beautiful,” Mclean tells PEOPLE.

“Probably the biggest thing I’ve learned is authenticity, to be my true, authentic self,” he says of what he’s learned on his transformative journey.

Mclean told PEOPLE “life is beautiful” two years after getting sober.

Kevin Mazur/Getty for We The Best Foundation

AJ McLean says he and wife Rochelle ‘still live apart’ but are in a ‘much, much healthier’ place

This involved giving up his celebrity.

“I’ve had multiple conversations with my bandmates and people who work with me when I’m not working, I’ve asked them all to call me Alex. That’s my real name. AJ is a persona. AJ is a character,” he tells PEOPLE. “It doesn’t define who I am and now I feel like I’m striking a healthy balance when I’m done on stage and walking away. I’m a dad, I’m a husband, I’m a friend, I’m a brother. That’s all that matters to me.”

The singer adds that he’s “just trying to keep growing into my true, authentic self” as he moves forward on his health journey.

Michael Kovac/Getty.

Mclean has once again become the authentic self

AJ McLean Talks Sobriety Journey Ahead of 2-Year Sobriety Anniversary: ​​’It Never Gets Easier’ (Exclusive)

Another recent milestone for Mclean was wrapping up The DNA World Tour this spring with The Backstreet Boys, marking a special time for the band.

“April 20 of this year marked 30 years together,” Mclean tells PEOPLE. “I feel it when I wake up in the morning. No, man, we never stopped. Even when we lost a member for six years, when Kevin took a little break to start a family and do his own thing.”

“Our job is demanding, it’s always upside down,” he adds. “It doesn’t always go the way you want, but you have to stay united, strong and rely on each other. We have to always be there for each other and just keep pushing forward. And after 30 years, we haven’t killed ourselves yet — so that’s a really good sign.”

Mclean is working on his marriage to Rochelle DeAnna McLean after his divorce earlier this year. Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic

The band isn’t holding back either, as Mclean teases the group’s “big” project in 2025 — which his wife Rochelle DeAnna McLean is responsible for.

“I can’t say what, but I wish I could take all the credit for it. It was actually my wife’s idea, and I planted the seed with my boys for seven years and they finally agreed,” he tells PEOPLE.

“So 2025 is going to be big for the Backstreet Boys. Very big.”

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Away from the band, Mclean is working on his marriage to Rochelle, 42, following their split in April.

“We hear each other every day, we spend more time together. We just have to rebuild something that never existed from the beginning,” the singer told the iHeartMedia podcast Sex, lies and spray tanninglast tuesday.

“I came with baggage, she came with baggage, she had trauma, I had trauma. I wasn’t sober or ready to get sober. She was dealing with her s…” Mclean added. “It was just a constant push-pull: she would sweep her feelings under the rug or I would dive into the bottle.”

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Source: HIS Education