That said, AJ and Rochelle’s daughters, Elliott, turning 13 on Thursday, November 27, and Lyric, 8, are still adjusting to seeing their parents together again.
“They still hate when we kiss each other,” AJ told Us Weekly. “They’re at that age. It kind of grosses them out. Even if it’s in a movie, they’re like, ‘Ew, gross!’ So I purposely will be like, ‘Mommy, give me a kiss real quick.’ They’re like, ‘Oh, come on, Dad!’ I’m like, ‘What? I love Mommy. I’m gonna give her a kiss. Leave me alone.’”
AJ admits that couples therapy “never stuck” for them, so they’ve leaned on good old-fashioned quality time instead.
“[I am] taking the initiative now and being like, ‘Hey, let’s go do this tomorrow. Hey, let’s go have breakfast. Hey, let’s go see a movie,’” he shared. “We just took a little Mommy-Daddy trip to Vegas to see Paul McCartney. She’s the biggest Beatles fan in the world, and we had the most amazing time.”
He added, “We just got back from New York, and I said, ‘Hey, we gotta go do something again. Let’s figure out whenever my schedule permits me. Let’s go on a little weekend trip. G-Ma can watch the girls. Let’s go do something.’ And she’s like, ‘Tell me when.’ But three years ago, I don’t know if she would have been like that.”
AJ and Rochelle announced in a joint statement in March 2023 that they had “mutually decided to separate temporarily” but hoped to “come back together.” The following January, the couple “decided to officially end [their] marriage.”
While AJ and Rochelle aren’t fully back together, he tells Us Weekly that they’re “crushing” coparenting and always prioritize their family.
“God forbid we came to that realization that we’re not gonna try to work things out, we’ve still come to a great place where we can coexist together happily but, most importantly, put our children first and make sure that they’re good and take care of them and keep them safe,” he explains.
AJ McLean’s marital journey has inspired several tracks on Hi My Name Is Alex, including “Thinking About Us” and “The One That Got Away,” with more songs planned for his full-length solo album next year.
“There’s a song called ‘Better Man’ that’s on the album, which, to me, is the sister or brother, whichever way you want to look at it to ‘Arizona’ [from the EP],” he teases. “‘Arizona’ was this kind of journey record, and ‘Better Man’ is really where I am today. I am a much better man than I’ve ever been.”
