On this episode of Pretty Messed Up, AJ McLean, Cheryl Burke, and Rene Elizondo swap catfishing stories with their fellow Dancing With The Stars contestant Nev Shulman, and talk about his background in dance and his favorite 80s music. Then AJ’s fellow Backstreet Boy Kevin Richardson comes on to talk about his perspective on AJ’s addiction, sharing stories from a tour when Kevin had to kick in AJ’s hotel room door to get him to a gig because he had partied too hard the night before. They also get into quarantine life, Kevin’s background in ballroom, the time Cheryl crashed Prince’s Oscars party and cut in front of Charlize Theron in the line for the bathroom, and so much more.
AJ tells Nev that he was catfished during the days of MySpace, and looking back, he can’t believe he was so taken in and obsessed with this person he hadn’t even met. Cheryl wants to know why people bother catfishing others; Rene says it’s a control thing, that AJ was “just a puppet” to his catfish; Nev says that can be it, but sometimes it’s completely by accident. In AJ’s case, whoever was catfishing him probably thought AJ would never speak to them, so they made up someone he would talk to; then you start to have feelings, and it’s too late to explain. They also get into the unprecedented scoring nightmare during Dancing With the Stars and how well new host Tyra Banks handled the situation, and talk about their favorite 80s music in preparation for the 80s dancing episode.
Then Kevin comes on and talks about how the Backstreet Boys all tried to help AJ throughout his career kick the drugs and alcohol; they even offered to shut down a tour early if it was bad for him. “We had a lot of heart-to-hearts...I can’t make you get sober,” Kevin says, “but I can let you know that you’re not fooling anybody.” But they’re brothers, and they all want him to be the best version of himself; that’s more important than making money on tour. Rene says it can be hard to believe that a loved one is finally on the road to recovery, especially after he’s been on and off the wagon so many times. But Rene points out that AJ never really got sober before; he just abstained from drinking. He was “white-knuckling it” instead of doing the work of recovery, which is about facing and fixing what makes you want to drink or do drugs in the first place. Now, though, AJ really is doing the work, and Rene says, “I do believe AJ is on the most solid ground since I've known him.” Then they make Kevin play Kiss, Marry, Kill the Backstreet Boys, much to his chagrin; hear all this and much more on this episode of Pretty Messed Up.
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