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Rochelle McLean

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Birth Name
Rochelle Deanna Karidis
Nickname(s)
Ro
RoRo
Gender
Female
Birthplace
phoenix, Arizona, U.S.
Birthdate
October 7th, 1981 (age 42)
Occupation(s)
Makeup artist
Hair stylist
Dancer
Model
Years Active
2000-present
Nationality
American
Height
5'7"
Spouse
A.J. McLean (12/17/2011-1/1/2024)
Elliott (Ava) McLean (born 2012), Lyric McLean (born 2017)

Rochelle Deanna McLean (nee Karidis, born October 7, 1981) is a make-up artist, hairstylist, dancer, and model. She is most well known as the wife of Backstreet Boys A.J. McLean. She has often been credited with helping the pop star overcome his drug addiction.

Early life[]

McLean was born on October 7th, 1981, in Phoenix, Arizona, to and Perry Karidis Sr. She is of Mexican, Greek, and Italian ancestry. She has two brothers, Perry Jr. and Andre, and a younger sister, Priscilla. Her family moved to Santa Clarita, California, when she was 8, but both her parents had an abusive and volatile marriage fueled with anger.

Career[]

Early career[]

As a child, she developed a rare bad self-image, resulting in eating disorders with her mother and insecurities. Despite having many longtime friends, she was also a victim of bullying since she was 5-6 in 1st grade. She was thick but had a healthy figure, though, body-shamed for her weight, had a crank call of winning lipo and a nose job in 7th grade, which she would never do, and even had her Madonna-style pants ruined in high school.

Raised in Phoenix for eight years and later in Santa Clarita, she discovered her love for performing and started to pursue a career in modeling, dancing, and print work. When she was between 2-4, McLean began to focus on her love for dance, and again at 15, working and training hard to catch up, so her mother signed her up for dance lessons every day for two hours. She took ballet, jazz, hip-hop, rhythm hip-hop, contemporary, salsa, merengue, and gymnastics. Her mother then got her into modeling for a few years, doing print and runways. She tried auditions for talent agencies and dance companies, but the poor thing was too shy and her brother and sister were get signed in.

In addition to modeling, she was a serious dance student, learning everything from jazz to ballet to hip hop.

She had the best style when she attended and graduated from Canyon High School (1996-2000) and even attended college to please her dad at community college but only dropped out after a semester for six months due to her terrible grades.

As for her love of music, such as Boybands like *NSYNC and NKOTB, one of her earliest encounters with her future husband was at the Into the Millennium Tour in Las Vegas in 1999.

Modeling[]

Hair and Makeup[]

Aside from modeling, Karidis decided to try cosmetology, so she did makeup at 24, from prosthetics to special effects, and attended Paul Mitchell the School in Sherman Oaks at 27. When she and her then-boyfriend now-husband met and started dating in 2009, they began working together when she became their hair and makeup artist for two projects: NKOTBSB behind the scenes and Straight Through My Heart. She's credited in the liner notes for This is Us under her maiden name.

TV and Film appearances[]

She has worked as a stylist for several television shows, including Project Hollywood and Nick's Big Show.

She was a wardrobe assistant at Playmate Tiffany Fallon’s 2005 Playboy Video Center: Playmate of the Year and the makeup artist for the 2008 short film Population Suicide and Family Jewels the following year.

With the whole experience of modeling for the camera, Rochelle never thought to work in front because she was camera-shy. Alongside the other wives and their husbands, Karidis and her husband appeared in I Heart Nick Carter, where she was a bridesmaid and their daughter was a flower girl. She would later appear in three music videos, God, Your Mama and Me in 2017, No Place in 2019, and her husband's Boy and a Man in 2019.

On November 30, 2022, Kardis, her husband, and their two daughters, along with the rest of the Backstreet families, were part of the filming in Los Angeles for the Boys' holiday special "A Very Backstreet Holiday" that was scheduled to air for December 14, 2022.

Personal life[]

At 17 years old, Karidis went to the Backstreet Boys's Into the Millennium Tour in Las Vegas in 1999, where she spotted her future husband but met him In October 2001 at Choreographer's Carnival two years later, where she was a Halloween dancer.

I saw them in concert when I was 17, so I was familiar with their music. I was a dancer, so I knew some dancers that toured with them on Black and Blue, but I was more a New Kids and *NSYNC fan.

Growing up in an entertainment family, Karidis's father and brother knew about him before she did because they worked on their music videos "Show Me the Meaning Of Being Lonely" and "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" before that and then five years later, in November 2006 while working as a Hollywood waitress and a bartender at Saddleback Ranch, the two meet again when AJ asked her out but, instead of winning her over right then and there, she flatly rejected and "dissed" him after "figuring out" who he was and chose to go have fun with her friends instead, resulting in him in dating a crazy co-worker of hers until 2007 when she finally gave him a chance and eventually started went out on March 22, 2009.

When we met, my tastes had changed to rock’n’roll and emo, so I didn’t know they were still recording and touring. I was very hesitant to go out with him. He had the reputation of the bad boy and going to rehab. But he was so nice! So I gave it a shot.

My dad works in entertainment, and I’ve done hair and make-up on-set and been around celebrities my whole life, so I understand that’s their job. And I’m a huge fan of 30 Seconds to Mars, so I would get excited, too, if I saw Jared Leto!

On January 9, 2010, for his birthday after ten months of dating, McLean proposed to Karidis at a club in Las Vegas. He states that the night he proposed was done on impulse. He bought an engagement ring from a jeweler in the same building as the club. The couple married on December 17, 2011, at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. The rest of the Backstreet Boys, Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, and Kevin Richardson, were in attendance. They have two children together. On April 29, 2012, during a show with NKOTBSB in London, England, broadcast in cinemas around Europe and online worldwide, he announced that he would be a father. A video on his YouTube page was posted where he and Rochelle announced the pregnancy. Around June 2012, AJ announced that they were going to have a baby girl in November. On November 27, 2012, their daughter, Ava Jaymes McLean, was born at 4:51 a.m. PST in Los Angeles, CA. She’s been dubbed the first Backstreet Girl. Brian, Kevin, Howie, and Nick had sons until Nick's daughter was born. On September 5, 2016, McLean announced on Instagram that his wife was pregnant with their second child, and they were having another girl due in the Spring of March 2017, which he mentioned Several weeks later at an event. On March 19, 2017, the couple's second child, Lyric Dean, was born in Los Angeles. In march 27, 2023, the pair temporarily separated to work on themselves and their marriage to build a stronger future. They have been communicating and getting along well through therapy, so McLean's now busy focusing on his family and health journey. sadly New Year's Day 2024, after 12 years of marriage, the couple has decided to divorce after temporarily separating 9 months prior but focus to move forward with friendship and coparenting their daughters..

In July 2022, during the DNA Tour, KAridis recently lost her grandmother and had to fly home to be with her family.

In late 2022, Just recently, her eldest daughter decided to change her birth name, which is not a gender thing, to "Elliott" since there were too many girls named Ava in her school and dance lessons. She asked both parents to call her Elliott, and Rochelle claimed that "Elliott" is just a name she prefers.

Health and Fitness[]

Due to her struggling with low self-esteem growing up, Karidis decided to transform herself physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Gallery[]

Filmography[]

TV series and films
Year Film Role Notes
2005 Playboy Video Centerfold: Playmate of the Year Tiffany Fallon wardrobe assistant Video documentary
2008 Population Suicide makeup artist Short
2009 Nick's Big Show hairstylist/makeup artist TV Mini-Series
2009 Family Jewels key makeup artist Short
2013 Project Hollywood hairstylist/makeup artist Welcome to the Neighborhood
2014 I Heart Nick Carter Herself minor
Music Video/Performances
Year Title Artist Role Notes
2017 God, Your Mama and Me Florida Georgia Line featuring Backstreet Boys Herself Music video (1st appearance)
2019 No Place Backstreet Boys Herself Music Video
2019 Boy and a Man AJ McLean Herself Music video

Facts[]

  • Her Tattoos are rose sleeves, a star on her right hip, and two hummingbirds below her stomach
  • She hates snakes
  • Favorite Color: Red
  • Favorite Food: Mexican
  • Due to the nasty, ugly attacks by anti-fans on social media, she stopped posting on Instagram for a year and took a break from Twitter
  • She and her daughters are never a fan of her husband's/their daddy's shaving his bread/no facial hair
  • There was a rumor on Backstreet's Back podcast that she got a nose job due to her having a bignose from her Greek heritage
  • Based on her professional as a hairstylist and being born a natural blonde like kristin richardson and leighanne littrell, she used to dye her hair black, brown brunette, or aburn red, but suddenly she had a severe allergy to PPD on August 25, 2013, causing her to switch to extensions, wigs or get highlights instead
  • She joined an overeaters anonymous 12-step program in January 2021 after still struggling with self-image, and her husband helped get her a lot of supporters through his Alcoholics Anonymous group
  • Her iconic looks are the red lips and cat eyes
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