NSYNC star Chris Kirkpatrick felt a rivalry with other boy bands.
The 49-year-old singer admitted the ‘Dirty Pop’ hitmakers shared “competitiveness” with the likes of 98 Degrees and Backstreet Boys earlier in their careers.
Chris joined AJ McLean and Jeff Timmons for an interview with Variety, and the latter insisted 98 Degrees didn’t feel much competition.
However, the NSYNC star fired back: “That’s a lie! Back in the day, there was competitiveness.
“There were underlying things that we all had. I was afraid of you!”
And Chris admitted there was a period when he couldn’t be in the same room as AJ, although they have become closer over the years.
He said: “There was a time when I couldn’t be in the same room with this guy. “But there’s always been a mutual respect, and now that we’re all parents, we’ve grown up.
“Reflecting on things, it’s cool to see what each of the bands did and how it all worked together.”
Chris noted that there is a camaraderie among boy bands from the early 2000s who all went through a similar journey.
He explained: “It really was this symbiotic relationship with Backstreet, 98 Degrees, us and even O-Town and other bands that came in.”
AJ agreed, and revealed the close bond he now shares with Chris and Jeff.
He joked: “It’s pretty much like the Three Stooges.”
Meanwhile, Chris previously revealed he locked heads with AJ after the ‘Larger Than Life’ hitmaker started seeing an ex-girlfriend he’d recently broke up with, and he was so furious he wanted to “kick his a**”.
He recalled: “I wanted to punch AJ [McLean’s] lights out for a little while. I was dating a girl, I broke up with her and he started dating her.
“And I guess he was talking smack to her about me, so I confronted him on it and wanted to kick his a**.”
However, the pair soon patched things up and went out for drinks together.
He said: “I don’t know how it got resolved — I saw him out one night and said I wanted to kill him, but I said, ‘Let’s get a beer.”