But life as a Backstreet Boys isn't one of "all give and no take." The Boys say they have received many gifts from admirers, many of which are quite special. Both Brian and Kevin tell us they were particularly touched by the gesture of a 4-year-old fan in Pennsylvania. with the help of her mother, the fan sent each of the band members a personalized, airbrushed Backstreet Boys T-shirt.

"It was neat to know that they went through all that trouble to send these cute little t-shirts," Brian tells us.

On another occasion, AJ discovered that a gift from a fan was a lot more than he expected. When a fan from Germany gave him two gold rings covered with diamonds, AJ naturally figured they couldn't possibly be real. But when he took the rings to a jewelry store, AJ was stunned to discover that not only were the rings 18 carat gold with real diamonds, they were quite valuable.

"One is worth about $7,000 and the other is worth about $3,700," AJ says. "I was like, 'Wow!'"

- Starlog

December, 1997