AJ McLean has vowed to maintain his sobriety "all the way"

He told People magazine: "Towards the end of the DNA tour, I got sober again for the last time.

"I'm sticking this one out all the way. It's a daily thing. But I have finally done what has been suggested amongst the sober community, and my life has flipped in a positive way."

The I Want It That Way hitmaker goes to the gym "six days a week," eats "clean" and maintains a "healthy balance between family and work", and gained valuable insight into his struggles two years ago.

He explained: "I took a little trip down to Scottsdale, Arizona, two summers ago for a little departure for myself for mental health.

"I'm a huge advocate for the mental health community, and I wanted to go dig a little deeper into my own existence and really get to the root of why I did the things I did to hurt myself and the ones I loved."

One thing which 47-year-old AJ - who has son Elliot, 12, and daughter Lyric, eight, with ex-wife Rochelle McLean - has found particularly helpful is to separate his showbiz persona from his real self.

He explained: : "I've discovered new verbiage, such as boundaries, never really had those. Now I have those, which is a blessing. AJ is a member of a group.

"He is a persona, but he doesn't define me as an individual. Alexander James is who I am."

The Building the Band presenter, who believes he was suffering "piece of s***ism" and had "zero self-esteem", doesn't care if people like him or not anymore.

He said: "And now I'm still learning, still growing, but if you don't like me, that's your loss, because I'm a really good person. I really got to bring that to this show as well. I got to be my true self."

And the Everybody performer said working on Building the Band has brough him further happiness.

AJ said: "Honestly, it brought me so much joy to be a part of this, and I am beyond flattered and honoured to be a part of the Netflix family now."