AJ McLean Celebrates A Year Of Sobriety Despite Being A “Chronic Relapser”

AJ McLean opened up on Monday’s episode of the Recovering from Reality podcast about his years-long fight to stay sober and the steps he takes to make sure he doesn’t fall back.  He explained how he fell into a pattern of being a “chronic relapser”, describing grabbing a drink after a stint in rehab in the early 2000s.

“I can do short bursts and I’m okay. Because even when I would relapse, I wouldn’t go on a bender,” he told host Alexis Haines. “I am a chronic relapser, but I’ve never gone for like a month straight of just drinking and partying. It’s been like one night and then I’m sober for a week or two. And then it’s one night. It was always back and forth.”

He said you’d never know it on stage…but that he would “black out, fall asleep and wake up as if nothing ever happened” after the shows. He said he didn’t see the sunlight for two years, but now he’s “finally comfortable in my own skin”.  “I can look at myself in the mirror and be more confident before I leave the house,” he said. “And I can tell myself in the morning how grateful I am for this, this, and this.