Back in 2019, AJ McLean opened up about a heartbreaking moment with his daughter — a moment that still stays with him today. At the time, the Backstreet Boys star was 41, balancing a booming career that included his solo album, the end of the group’s Las Vegas residency, and preparations for their massive DNA World Tour.

But behind the stage lights, McLean faced something far more emotional. His daughter, then six-year-old Ava, had looked at him and asked if he could “stop being a Backstreet Boy and just be her dad.”

“It was a virtual dagger,” McLean said at the time. “That’s something you’d expect from a teenager — not a six-year-old.”

Now years later, his daughter — who now goes by Eliot — is no longer that little girl, and McLean himself is no longer the 41-year-old performer running from one stage to another. But that moment remains one of the most defining in his journey as both a father and an artist.

Time has passed, and both McLean and his daughter have grown — but fans still remember that raw honesty he showed when he revealed what fame had cost him at home.