The pop group has enjoyed a smooth ride down fame's highway. Just how
they'll negotiate A.J. McLean's hiatus for treatment of depression and
alcohol abuse remains to be seen, but many folks are optimistic.
By DAVE SCHEIBER
For years, the public parade of celebrities entering rehab to confront
personal demons has bypassed the teen pop universe. Headlines have been
generated by such names as Robert Downey Jr., Matthew Perry, Darryl
Strawberry and Melanie Griffith.
But all that changed last Monday. In a statement that stunned their
fans, the Backstreet Boys announced that one of their five members, A.J.
McLean, was undergoing a 30-day treatment "for his clinical depression,
which has recently led to anxiety attacks and the excessive consumption
of alcohol."
This was a major bombshell for legions of preteen and adolescent fans
who plaster their bedroom walls with Backstreet Boys posters, pack
concert arenas and comb fan magazines and BSB Web sites for any tidbits
on their favorite Boy.
The group was forced to postpone some 20 concert dates on a North
American tour that began June 8, though those appearances have since
been tacked onto the end of the tour in September. While financial
losses of roughly $700,000 per show seem to have been averted, other
issues linger.
For the first time in the new teen pop wave, ushered in by the Boys
themselves in the mid-1990s, one of the genre's icons has been knocked
off its pedestal.
In a music that trades heavily on a perception of wholesomeness -- a
traditionally safe image coupled with hip clothes and cool dance moves
-- the McLean revelation has posed questions previously foreign to the
scene.
How will fans, particularly starstruck young ones, react to the
unsettling news that one of their idols is dropping from sight to battle
serious problems that include alcohol abuse? Just as important: What
will their parents tell them about it?
And what are the implications for the larger-than-life band --
especially if McLean is unable to rejoin them when the tour resumes Aug.
7?
Gauging from reaction so far -- from sympathetic messages on Internet
fan sites to the heart of teen pop, MTV -- McLean, 23, enjoys an ocean
of goodwill.
"I think most of their fans -- who are midteens on up -- understand
what's going on and for the most part are very supportive of him," says
John Norris of MTV news.
"Obviously, letting things get out of hand in one's life is not
something to admire, but the upfront way the (Backstreet Boys) have
handled it is something perfectly admirable."
Its Web site, mtv.com, has received about 10,000 e-mails about McLean so
far, and about 90 percent are "completely supportive," Norris said.
Still, Norris and others say the news may hit the Backstreet Boys'
youngest fans in a different way.
"For those of us a little older, a celebrity doing drugs or going into
rehab is no banner headline," says David Wild, a contributing editor for
Rolling Stone magazine who has profiled the Backstreet Boys in a cover
story. "But I do know I have a nephew who's 9 who was really upset by
this, and it really shook his world."
How should a parent handle a child who is confused or angry about what's
going on with the troubled Backstreet Boy?
Talk about it.
"The more that parents can talk to kids about these kind of issues, the
more that can help," says University of South Florida clinical
psychologist Dr. Vicky Phares. "Maybe even for a parent to initiate this
kind of conversation would make some sense. That might help the child
express their concern, because the child might not even be able to
formulate a question themselves."
Dr. Carole Lieberman, a media psychiatrist and author in Beverly Hills,
Calif., also sees a potential lesson for youthful A.
Young fans put them on even more of a pedestal and think they're
perfect, and certainly little girls fantasize about them being their
boyfriends, so it would be jarring to realize they're less than
perfect," says Lieberman.
"However, (McLean) is to be commended for taking a step to get help, and
I think it's a lesson parents can teach their kids, that if somebody has
a problem like addiction, that it's good to admit it and get some help.
This is an opportunity for parents."
That dialogue might help children, but the Backstreet Boys may have hurt
themselves with some parents, says Donna Wright, an Orlando pop and R&B
manager who helped manage, market and nurture the Backstreet Boys during
the band's first five years.
"While I think they'll be okay with their older fans, I believe that the
younger fans are confused by this, and many parents of those younger
children will probably pull away," says Wright, whose former husband
Johnny Wright also managed the Backstreet Boys and now guides 'N Sync
and Britney Spears. "But if that happens, it'll be okay, because the
(group) is growing up now."
Wright, the head of Wrightstuff Management, has a unique perspective on
the group. In addition to handling their press, she traveled with them
to shows, listened to their problems, tried to keep them from eating too
much junk food and encouraged them to get their rest.
She was especially fond of McLean and remains close to him. She says
when he visited her last month in Orlando, he was starting to fall
apart.
"I saw the breakdown," she says. "I also saw that he felt he needed to
get help, and he told me he did. I could see he needed to be held, and I
held him, and I said, "A.J., please, you've got to get help.' I felt
such sadness for him, because I knew he was fighting this, and he was
feeling very much alone out there."
The statement the group released to the media referred to the recent
death of McLean's grandmother, to whom he was very close, as a trigger
of his problems. McLean's parents divorced when he was 4, and he was
raised by his mother and grandmother.
Wright agrees that the loss fueled his downward spiral, but she said his
strict upbringing and sudden fame may also have contributed.
"I think when A.J. finally got his freedom, he ran with it, in every
direction," she says.
McLean cultivated a bad-boy image with his many tattoos. Still, says
Wright: "He never used to drink. Maybe once a month. But I think it
came to the point where he just got bored, and some of the people they
hang out with on tour are into that kind of stuff, and when you don't
have somebody out there to keep you stable, you run with the crowd."
Bandmate Nick Carter, in a radio interview last week on the MJ Morning
Show on WFLZ-FM 93.3, talked of the pressures of being a Backstreet Boy.
"It's really hard to get a grip on reality. . . . We have to deal with
things a lot of people don't understand when it comes to living up to
people's expectations (or) having to just deal with the long road life .
. . You can't have a steady relationship. We've come to learn that money
can really screw up people's lives."
"He's been in this group since he was 15. . . . This is all he knows,"
Carter continued. "I was fortunate to grow up with both my parents. . .
. He didn't have a dad (around) his entire life."
Guy Walker, former guitarist in the BSB Band, now on staff with Big 3
Entertainment in St. Petersburg, says that he "flat out never saw" hints
that this would happen to McLean. What he did see was pressure on the
Boys: "They're pulled in every direction, every minute of the day."
Walker predicts that fans will stick with the group and that McLean will
come back stronger by showing he's human. "It's wrong to put him on a
pedestal," he says. "But that's what people do to stars, and maybe it's
too much for them to live up to."
"The pressure on performers like the Backstreet Boys is so intense,"
says singer-songwriter Mindi Abair, who toured with the group as a
saxophonist and percussionist and is currently performing overseas.
"They never get a break, and they have little or no time to deal with
real life issues and struggles. I've received hundreds of e-ails from
fans regarding A.J. I hope he knows how much love and support is out
there for him."
Paul Ciliano, operations director at local soft rock station WWRM-FM
94.9 (Magic), on which the Backstreet Boys are staples, says McLean
could come out of the ordeal fine. "He acknowledged he has a problem and
he's getting help," he says. "And it's his first time."
"The word rehab is synonymous with rock bands like Aerosmith and Stone
Temple Pilots," says MTV's Norris, "I think the truth is, it's not that
this kind of thing doesn't happen with pop groups. But if it ever raises
its head, it's quickly squashed by publicists and managers who say who
say, "This is suicide if we go public' -- be it a sex scandal or
substance abuse situation. So
many have tried to either whitewash it, or make up some story about,
"He's not around.' I think these guys are sending a message that being
open and honest is way more positive."
Norris has his doubts that McLean will be ready to rejoin the group
after his 30-day rehab is over. The group might, he says, have to finish
the tour without him, as a quartet.
"They haven't ruled that out," he says. "And I know they're doing
everything in their power to avoid that situation, but they say, and
rightly so, A.J.'s health and happiness should come first.
"I think it's optimistic to think that somebody could deal with all this
in 30 days, and then, of all things, go back on the road, which is not a
conducive environment to staying clean and healthy," Norris said. "But
best of luck to him. Maybe he'll be ready."