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It’s over for <\/span>AJ McLean<\/a> and his wife, Rochelle. On New Year’s Day, the Backstreet Boys star took to Instagram to announce that he and his wife of more than a decade are officially ending their marriage.<\/span><\/p>\n “As you all know we have been separated for over a year now,” AJ wrote. “While we have hoped for reconciliation we have decided to officially end our marriage. It is with deep love and respect that we have made this decision.”<\/span><\/p>\n “Our focus now is moving forward in the healthiest possible way with friendship and coparenting our girls at the forefront of this next chapter,” he continued. “We appreciate your kindness, respect and privacy during this time.”<\/span><\/p>\n AJ captioned the note with a crying emoji. Rochelle posted the same message, captioning it with a black heart emoji.<\/span><\/p>\n AJ\u00a0and Rochelle tied the knot in 2011 after dating for six years. They are parents to two daughters, Elliott, 11, and Lyric, 6.<\/span><\/p>\n Back in March, AJ’s rep revealed in <\/span>a statement to ET<\/a> that the singer and his wife were separating\u00a0\u00a0to work on themselves and their marriage with the hope of “building a stronger future.”<\/span><\/p>\n “Marriage is hard, but worth it. We have mutually decided to separate temporarily to work on ourselves, and on our marriage with the hope of building a stronger future. The plan is to come back together and continue to nurture our love for one another, and our family,” the statements read.\u00a0“We ask for respect and privacy at this time. Separation is hard enough without the commentary, please be kind and remember there are children involved.”<\/span><\/p>\n Eight months later, <\/span>AJ gave an update<\/a> on his relationship with Rochelle, revealing on the\u00a0<\/span>Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/em>podcast, “We still live separately, but we are in couples therapy. We are in individual therapy. We talk every day. We are spending more time together.”<\/span><\/p>\n “We just have to rebuild something that was never there from the beginning,” he said. “…\u00a0I came with baggage, she came with baggage. She had trauma, I had trauma. I wasn’t sober or even ready to get sober, she was dealing with her own s**t.”<\/span><\/p>\n “It was just a constant push-pull,” he continued. “She would sweep her feelings under the rug, I would do the same thing or I’d dive into a bottle. Now, it’s taken this time apart for us to really do some serious growing and understanding and listening.”<\/span><\/p>\n