AJ McLean is recalling where he was when he found out his Building the Band co-star Liam Payne had passed away.
The Backstreet Boys member tells Us Weekly, “I was literally on a Zoom call with my team. My manager told me what had happened, and I was like, ‘Guys, I got to get off the call. I’m sorry. I’ll catch up with you later.’ I just, kind of, sat there.”
Liam died Oct. 16, 2024, after falling from the balcony of his hotel in Argentina. He was 31.
AJ says that after learning the news, he “called [his] sponsor” first, then reached out to his other Building the Band co-stars Kelly Rowland and Nicole Scherzinger.
“All three of us kind of banded together and kind of talked to each other,” he says. “We were kind of being support for each other.”
Building the Band marks Liam’s final TV appearance, and AJ says the show will let fans “truly remember him the way that he really, really was.”
As previously reported, Liam's family signed off on Netflix airing the music competition series. The first four episodes drop July 9, followed by three more on July 16 and the final three on July 23.