Inside Mark Wahlberg's Inspiring Family World as a Father of 4 Frequently Embarrassed Kids - E! Online (2024)

Mark Wahlberg is quite the romantic.

Fully onboard with his 18-year-old daughter Ella Rae's relationshipwith boyfriendJames Stuart, the actor—who even wished the young couple a happy first anniversary in January—told E! News that he "couldn't be happier" for them.

"He's so kind, he treats her like the princess that she is," Wahlberg explained to E! Newwhile doing press for his action hitUnchartedin February. "I'm more worried about him, 'cause she's tough! She drags me through the mud, I know she's gonna draghimthrough the mud. But he's a sweet kid and we're actually even doing stuff work-wise together."

In fact, the father of four hopes "this is one of those first-love, only-love, 60-year" relationships.

"Nobody's beyond redemption," the 50-year-oldtold E! News at the recent junket forFather Stu, a six-years-in-the-making, based-on-a-true-story passion project forthe star-producerthat's now in theaters. Discussing his belief that God isn't one to hold a person's past screw-ups against them, he continued, "IfHeknows your heart and you want to do good, He will help you. He'll give you those things—but He's gonna give you all those things when you're ready for them. That's the same thing with my wife, with my children, and all the things that I've ever wanted. He didn't give them to me until I was ready for them."

Not that Wahlberg, a devout Catholic who credits his faith for helping him along the way in nearly every aspect of life, hasstopped to rest on his laurels or anything, now that so much good fortune is his.

And if that involves going to bed when it's still light out, FaceTiming his sons to say goodnight whenthey'restill on their way to football practice,so that he can be up hours before dawn to pray, work out and seize the day, so be it.

Even if his wife of 12 years, Rhea Durham, rolls her eyes once in awhile. Or frequently.

"Oh, she thinks it'sridiculous," Wahlbergadmitted toE! in February when asked what his spouse, a former Victoria's Secret model, thought of his aggressive fitness regimen. "She's always thinking I'm doing way too much and I need to stop, and I'm way too into myself."

While Wahlberg's already giving Ella's boyfriend workout tips, sonMichael, 16, is probably dating but hasn't brought anyone home to meet theparents—so "nothing serious yet, which is good," the Lone Survivor star noted.Brendan, 13, "just wants to hang out with his buddies and play football, basketball—and now he's playing golf. So they're much more into sports still." And his youngest, daughter Grace, 12, who rides horses and competes in dressage, isn't that far removed from giving her dad at-home makeovers and manicureswhen she isn't excelling at TikTok.

So with all those adolescents running around his still-full nest, Wahlberg does needhis strength, mentally and physically.

"My son has just recently turned 16, let's just say that, and he gets embarrassed by everything that I do," he said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show April 12. "Even the stuff that other people think is, like, cool in 2022, like movies and stuff? 'Dad it's so dumb. Dad that's terrible.'"

To be fair, Michael may still have PTSD from hearing "Good Vibrations" blasted by the away team during his football game.

"It's the only song from 20-some-odd years ago that they're playing," Wahlberg recountedthe moment on a 2018 episode ofSunday Sitdown With Willie Geist. "My wife's just cracking up laughing. She's looking at my son, who's burying his head in his helmet. It's fine for me, I don't want to make their life any more difficult. I think my past...it's not their burden."

Though he wouldn't mind if they were a little more interested in his present.

But while he and Durham, 43,may have kept a watchful eye on their screen time, they haven't avoided taking on tough real-world issues with their children when need be. When Wahlberg starred in 2016'sPatriots Day, about the 2013 bombing at the Boston Marathon, he told E! News at the time that he felt Ella and Michael, then 13 and 10, were ready to see it.

"This is the reality ofthe world that we live in and I think it's important to understand that these things will happen, but we can't go run and hide," he said. "We have to stand up and fight back, and do that with love. I think ultimately that will make them better and stronger as people."

Forget it, Dad was walking them in. "'I'm getting a kiss in front of all your friends, and that's it,'" hequipped, describingthe scenario. "But if they need something, if they want to meet Drake" or someone else he knows or could pull a few strings to arrange, "then they'll say, 'Oh yeah, Dad, we think you're cool for five minutes.'"

There's no butteringhim up for a week beforehand, either, Wahlberg added."They'llbe nice for five minutes, and if they don't get what they want, when they want, they're just right back to not talking to me. But you know, they're kids, so I understand."

No wonder he's been so excited to bond with Ella's boyfriend—finally, someone wants to hang out with him!

However, now that his sons are getting into golf andhe'san avid player—and is friends with lots of professional golfers and other athletes—"they're a little bit impressed with that," Wahlbergsaid on the April 10 episode oftheSunday Sitdown podcast. "But I think they are secretly impressed with my work ethic and my discipline. And I have to be an example for them, I have to show them that Dad's gonna get up and he's gonna do whatever he has to do. I could easily be complacent now that I've had success, but I'm more driven now and determined than I've ever been."

As forhis faith, which is so central to his world, "I don't force it" on the kids, he told Hoda KotbonToday April 7. "But they know that Dad can't start the day without being in prayer, can't start the day without reading my Scripture or going to Mass.And hopefully, instead of forcing that on them, they'll say, 'Well, if it works for Dad, maybe it'll work for us,' and they'll kind of gravitate towards it on their own."

In the meantime, he quipped, "They think Dad's crazy and he's boring."

At least Durham,his love for the last 21 years, has remained pretty sweet on him throughout (even when he's banished to the basem*ntwhen the New England Patriots lose because she just can't take his surly attitude). They started dating in 2001 and welcomed Ella and Michael in 2003 and 2006, respectively, before tying the knot in a Catholic ceremony in Beverly Hills on Aug. 1, 2009.

"I owe a lot to my wife," Wahlberg, who grew up the youngest of ninesiblings in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood,told The Sunin 2018. "She has helped me become the man that I am and created a beautiful life for me and our children. I also knew that she loved me for who I am and that she was someone I could trust. Until I met her, I wasn't ready to have a family."

But he was raring to go when hedid meet her.

Not long after, he met Durham in New York and took her to Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral the next morning for their first date.

More important than anything else, Wahlberg told The Sunin 2018, "We share the same values. Obviously, the physical attraction was there, but that's not what keeps a couple together." (FYI, that attraction is still there, Wahlberg wishing his "total smokeshow" of a wife a happy birthday last July and calling her "an incredible mother to our four amazing children.")

Butno matter how many movies he made or Wahlburgers locations he and his brothers opened (Sydney, Australia, just got one in February), "My mission in life is to raise my kids right," the actor shared. "With all the success I've had in the world, if I fail at that, my life means nothing. Raising your kids is the most challenging, but also the most rewarding role. I always try to instill in them as many positive values as I can and also try to lead by example in terms of working hard and being a good husband who takes his commitment to his family very seriously."

He will try to convince her to go to dinner with him at 4:30 p.m., though, so it's not as if they don't do date...afternoons.

However, Durham hardly spends her mornings sleeping in. She wrotein a2015blog post forPeople that her alarm went off at 5:15 a.m. on school days. Then, she shared, "I usually drag myself out of bed no later than 5:45 a.m. and give myself a few (and I mean only a few) minutes to brush my teeth, splash my face and get mentally prepared for the hustle."

The whole family would join Wahlberg on location as much as they could, Durham wrote, butthe kids' increasingly busy schedules was what made that harder, so"during the times we can't be together, I am back home putting my time-management skills to work."