The five-piece group reveals that Brian Littrell and Nick didn't speak for a year due to the latter's solo career.

• Jun 6, 2018

AceShowbiz - Backstreet Boys stars Brian Littrell and Nick Carter didn't speak for a year after feuding over their solo plans.

The boy bandmates kickstarted a two-year hiatus in 2003, and now the singers have revealed that part of the reason for the break was because they couldn't stand each other.

"It was me and Brian who had the biggest fall out," Nick tells U.K. newspaper The Mirror. "It was after I released my solo album and Brian was mad at me. We didn't speak for a year or so."

Nick released Now or Never a year before the hiatus.

"Yeah, Nick would call me and I would be like 'nah'. I'd see his calls and just not answer," Brian adds.

Littrell and Carter weren't the only bandmates in need of a break from each other - and A.J. McLean, who is now happily married, reveals he needed time to recover from a heartbreak after another celebrity he once fancied rebuffed him.

"I used to have a really big crush on Gwen Stefani and she was backstage talking to James Hetfield from Metallica and I walked up to meet her and introduced myself and said, 'I think you're awesome,' and she said, 'Thanks', and turned and just kept talking as if I wasn't even there," he recalls. "That kind of broke my heart for a second."

A.J. insists he and the Hollaback Girl singer are now on good terms thanks to his friendship with her boyfriend, Blake Shelton: "It's all forgiven now though and Blake and I have become friends, so it's all good," he shares.

The stars have since ended all of their feuds and are back onstage performing their Backstreet Boys: Larger Than Life concert residency in Las Vegas at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, with Kevin Richardson revealing the former teeny boppers, who worshipped him and the bandmates in the 1990s are now middle aged rockers in the audience.

"They're still screaming but they've got a baby on their hip. And they've got wine," Kevin laughs.

The Backstreet Boys: Larger Than Life concert series ends in November.