“Tell Me Why” my dad’s a pop star: Joey Fatone & AJ McLean talk fatherhood”Tell Me Why” my dad’s a pop star: Joey Fatone & AJ McLean talk fatherhood
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As we head into Father’s Day weekend, have you ever wondered what it’s like to have a pop star as a father? *NSYNC‘s Joey Fatone found out the hard way that sometimes it means your favorite group isn’t the one your dad’s in.
“We were at a wedding one time, and my little one, Kloey, she was very young at the time,” Joey recalled. “And all of a sudden they played an *NSYNC song. … And then the Backstreet Boys song came on. Do you know, my kid grabbed the microphone and knew all the words?”
“And I go, ‘When have you ever learned the words?’ Like, she knew every word! I was like, ‘That’s messed up!’ And she just laughed at me and went, ‘I like it.'”
Meanwhile, Joey’s current tour mate, Backstreet Boys‘ AJ McLean, says his daughters don’t like it when the public wants a piece of their father.
“Both my girls are really territorial over daddy,” he noted. “If we’re out having a daddy-daughter day and someone stops for, like, an autograph or a photo, they [become], like, mini bodyguards … but they love it.”
And AJ says he gets a weird sense of satisfaction from kids at his daughter’s school who try to tease him by making Backstreet jokes during the school drop-off.
“As I walk away, like clockwork every morning, the same two boys [sing], ‘Tell me why!'” says AJ, referring to the famous lyric from Backstreet’s “I Want It That Way.” “And I just think it’s adorable, whether they’re making fun or not.”
“They know it!” he laughs. “‘You’re 11 years old and you know it.'”
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