Wahlberg: Soft, centred tough guy

Reuters

TOUGH GUY: Mark Wahlberg re-evaluated his life while in prison.

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Mark Wahlberg has been nominated for an Oscar, served time in jail and sold millions of records as a rap artist.

"I've had a lot of lives, for sure," the 38-year-old smiles.

Wahlberg is in a palatial suite on the 48th floor of New York's Four Seasons Hotel. Talking about his days growing up in a working-class area of Boston and having brushes with the law, Wahlberg says his goal used to be a simple one.

"I used to want to be the toughest motherf---er on the block," Wahlberg says. But time, prison and becoming a dad have mellowed him.

Wahlberg married his long-time girlfriend, model Rhea Durham, on August 1 this year in a private Catholic ceremony at the Good Shepherd church in Beverly Hills.

They have three children - daughter Ella Rae, 6, and sons Michael, 3, and Brendan Joseph, 1. The couple are expecting their fourth child, another daughter, next year.

The youngest of nine brothers and sisters, Wahlberg is comfortable being surrounded by a large brood.

"I love it," he says. "I'm not sure how many kids we will have but we'll have as many as my wife would like to."

Family clearly comes first for Wahlberg and he says it's a job he does well, albeit being slightly overprotective at times.

"I think you have to be, though," he says. "For example, yesterday my wife wanted to take the kids to the museum but I insisted they get driven there, put in their car seats with their seatbelts on, so I know they are safe.

"I don't want them walking around here because people drive like maniacs in this city."

The family now has a sprawling home in Los Angeles, the city he calls home.

"I used to love it here [in New York] when I'd go out and party," he says. "It is an incredible city but what I love most is being home with my kids," he says.

With his successful career as an actor, Calvin Klein model and recording superstar, Wahlberg could easily afford to have many homes but he says such trappings of fame are not for him.

"I don't get it," he says, shaking his head at the excessiveness of some Hollywood celebrities.

"I know people who get some money, get fame and have five houses. They have one in Aspen but go to Aspen once a year. Why would you do that? I say, just rent one. I think all that excess can be a little stupid."

Stupid because Wahlberg knows what it's like to come from the other side of the tracks.

Growing up with a good dose of "tough love" from his parents, Alma Elaine and Donald Wahlberg, he hit troubled times early as a teen who abused alcohol, drugs and often found himself in fights, a trait he struggled to shake off when he became successful.

"When I first started out, I still had that Boston mentality, so when people were looking at me I thought they wanted to fight me," he says. "Then I had to be like, 'Oh, they recognise me and just want to say hi,' but I was always on the defensive."

At 16, Wahlberg robbed a pharmacy while under the influence of the hallucinogenic drug PCP. During the robbery, he knocked one man unconscious and blinded another permanently in one eye. He was sentenced to two years' jail at Boston's Deer Island House of Correction but served 45 days.

It was during that time Wahlberg says he re-evaluated his life and turned to God "like most people do when they go to prison".

Wahlberg has the rosary tattooed around his neck and the words "In God I Trust" inked over his heart.

Wahlberg's music career hit its peak in 1991 when his group Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch's single Good Vibrations topped the Billboard charts in the US (in Australia the song reached No. 4 on the ARIA chart).

The following year, Wahlberg's toned body appeared in almost every glossy magazine, and a billboard in Times Square showed him bare-chested in Calvin Klein underwear.

In 1994, he made the move to the big screen with Renaissance Man and received acclaim for his role in The Basketball Diaries the following year.

When we spoke a few years ago, Wahlberg was talking about retiring one day in the not-too-distant future. Not now.

"Yeah, I probably shouldn't have said that to you," he smiles. "I thought my golf game was a lot better than it was. Besides, I feel like I'm getting better at acting, so I don't want to stop now. I won't be retiring at 40."

Industry insiders are calling his performance in his latest film, The Lovely Bones, mesmerising.

Based on the best-selling book by Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones tells the story of a young girl who has been raped and murdered by a neighbour and watches over her family as they grieve for her.

She also observes as her murderer prepares to kill again.

Wahlberg says it was tough material to deal with: "I'd go home and have nightmares about it after I finished working for the day. This wasn't an easy head space to be in for me, especially as a dad."

The film also stars Rachel Weisz and Susan Sarandon.

Wahlberg praises the film's Oscar-winning director Peter Jackson but is quick to add he wasn't the only factor that attracted him to the film.

"I've made movies in the past I normally wouldn't have made because a great director was on board but it didn't always work out the way I wanted it to," he says. "I'm not doing that shit any more. For me, there has to be a great script and it has to be a great part as well. Fortunately, Peter was everything I thought he'd be and more. He's a very warm human being."

Now nearly 40, Wahlberg says he isn't misguided about what his life has been to this point and how far he has come.

"Look, I'm not about to look you in the eye and say I have no regrets. I do. But I know that if it all went away tomorrow and I had to go back to where I came from, I'd be fine. I honestly would because I know I could survive."