Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell Has Battled This Medical Condition for Over a Decade

If you ask any millennial who ruled the music scene back in the day, there’s a good chance the Backstreet Boys will come up. They’re considered one of the greatest boy bands of that era. And even now, they’re still holding onto that talent, giving fans a major dose of nostalgia every time they perform classics like “I Want It That Way.”

But during recent performances, especially a July 2025 show at Sphere at The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas (with shows running through Aug. 24), fans couldn’t help but notice something off with Brian Littrell. At one point, he was seen holding onto a support beam on stage, sparking concern and leaving many wondering if he’s OK.

Here’s the latest on Brian’s health, and the condition he’s been dealing with for over a decade.

If you saw Brian Littrell clinging to a support beam during a July 2025 performance at The Sphere, it likely had to do with the intense movement of the background screens.

The visuals made it look like the guys were on a platform shooting through a giant space station. And while the motion was technically in the background, some angles suggest the group could also see the side screens which might’ve made things feel a bit off for Brian.

He may have just been holding onto the support beam to keep his balance and avoid getting dizzy.

That said, it seems like Brian's holding of the support beam may have been nothing more than a safety precaution so he could focus on the performance. And fans in the comments of a TikTok clip posted by @neeekkk27 seemed to agree. One person wrote, “That is so disorientating, I don’t blame Brian for needing a support rail,” while another added, “I’m not even there and I got a little dizzy.”

So while there doesn’t appear to be anything physically serious going on with Brian, he does have two conditions he’s been dealing with for years, both of which affect his voice.

If you’ve ever noticed moments in Brian’s singing where his voice drops unexpectedly or sounds a little off, there’s a reason for it. He revealed in a past interview that he suffers from vocal tension dysphonia (VTD), explaining it as a condition “where the muscles around my vocal cords kind of strangle me in a way, block the airflow, [and] don't allow your vocal cords to work properly like they should.”

He said the symptoms first showed up around the midpoint of the Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block tour, which ran from 2011 to 2012. On top of that, Brian also shared that he’s dealing with dystonia, a "neurological disorder that messes with the signals between your brain and your voice."

When asked if it’s stress-induced, he replied, “It’s all of that.” So when his voice doesn’t sound like the “old Brian,” now you know why, and hopefully, fans can cut him some slack.

In a separate interview with Parade, Brian was asked how he’s handling both conditions and explained that it’s just about managing them. He shared that he’s been working with a vocal therapist in California and added, “It’s a work in progress. It will always be.”