AJ McLean and Rochelle McLean have always put their marriage first — even in the wake of their temporary separation.

While the couple first met in 2008, their connection didn’t blossom until later. AJ asked out for the first while Rochelle worked as a waitress at Saddle Ranch in West Hollywood. While she rejected him the first time, AJ asked her out again one year later and she said yes.

AJ proposed in January 2010, and the pair walked down the aisle nearly two years later. After one year of marriage, AJ and Rochelle became parents for the first time when they welcomed their daughter Elliott in 2012. Five years later, the family of three expanded their brood with the arrival of daughter Lyric in 2017.

In March 2023, they decided to briefly separate after more than a decade of marriage.

“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,” AJ and Rochelle told Us Weekly in a joint statement at the time. “The plan is to come back together and continue to nurture our love for one another, and our family. 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.”

Keep scrolling to see AJ and Rochelle’s relationship timeline:

AJ and Rochelle began dating one year after the former Saddle Ranch waitress initially turned him down. She decided to give him another chance after she briefly left her position at the celeb hot spot.

“She was gone for a year … she came back a year later. I asked her out again, and March 22nd, 2009, was our first date,” the “Incomplete” singer recalled on the “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast.

The “Larger than Life” performer proposed to Rochelle on his birthday.

The couple tied the knot at the Beverly Hills Hotel in a gothic-themed ceremony. 

AJ and the hair stylist welcomed their first child, daughter Elliott.

Five years later, the pair expanded their family with their second daughter, Lyric.

When Elliott made the decision to change her name, her parents were supportive of their little one’s choice.

“I didn’t really see the harm in respecting her desire to be unique. Come to think of it, it’s a little odd that as parents we choose names for people we haven’t even met yet and expect them to forever [identify] as that person!” the makeup artist wrote via her Instagram Story at the time.

One month later, AJ opened up how he was “taken aback” at first about his daughter’s name change but ultimately came around. “Whatever reasoning it is, that’s hers, and I’m going to support it a million percent. My wife will [too],” he said during a September 2022 Today appearance. 

After nearly 11 years of marriage, AJ and Rochelle confirmed to Us that they were temporarily separating with the hopes of reconciling in the future.

“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 estranged couple told Us in a joint statement at the time. “The plan is to come back together and continue to nurture our love for one another, and our family. 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.”

Eight months after announcing their separation, AJ shared that he and Rochelle were still friendly and working on their relationship. 

“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,” he explained on an episode of Cheryl Burke’s “Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans” podcast. “We just have to rebuild something that was never there from the beginning.”