Backstreet Boy's Mom Describes His Struggle

Aug. 9 -- A month after Backstreet Boy A.J. McLean left his bandmates to undergo treatment for alcoholism and depression, his mother says he is still struggling to reconcile two conflicting sides of himself.

Though the world knows A.J. as the tattooed, flirtatious bad boy of the hit-making heartthrobs, his mother tells Connie Chung on ABCNEWS' 20/20 that she knows him as "gentle" and "insecure" Alex.

As the Backstreet Boys achieved immense fame, Denise McLean says, Alex retreated into the A.J. persona, in part to escape his insecurities and emotional distress.

Though it stunned fans, A.J.'s decision to enter treatment was a great relief for Denise. It was the beginning of what she hopes will be a homecoming for her son Alex.

"'Mom, you've got your son back,'" Denise says her son recently told her.

Passion for Performing

Alex was only 4 years old when his parents divorced. He and his mom lived with his grandparents in West Palm Beach, Fla., and his mother says there was a strong bond of friendship within the family. "We were inseparable, we were this mom-son buddy team," she says.

He landed his first job in show business when he was 6 years old. It was a part in a play at the children's theater where his mother worked. She says he was immediately hooked. "He walked on the stage that day when he was 6, that first show, and I don't think he ever wanted to leave," says Denise.

Alex continued acting as well as taking piano and dance lessons. By the time he was 8, he was spending his weekends in professional theater productions. "Everything that was involved around the theater, he wanted to learn. It was like he had this drive," says Denise.

He dreamed of eventually going to Broadway but his plans took a turn when he answered an ad in a trade newspaper announcing auditions for a boy band, which would become known as the Backstreet Boys.

The band spent two years in Europe, where they became a pop phenomenon, then they returned to the States, where they rocketed to stardom. Denise traveled with the boys, first as a guardian and later as part of their management team, but the mother-son team became increasingly difficult to maintain.