Mark Wahlberg Makes Surprising Decision Regarding Religion and His Kids

Mark Wahlberg recently explained how he broached the subject of religion to his children. The actor showed up on an April 7 episode of Today and spoke about his upcoming film Father Stu where he portrays Stuart Long, a real-life boxer-turned-priest.  

Wahlberg, a Catholic, said he is dedicated to the project because of the parallels between the film and his life. The father of four also revealed that he doesn’t want to impose his beliefs on his children. He shares daughters Ella, 18, and Grace, 12, and sons Michael, 15, and Brendan, 13, with his wife, Rhea Durham. 

“They think Dad’s crazy, and he’s boring,” he told Hoda Kotb. “But even with my faith, I don’t force it on them. 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 January, he posted an Instagram video of himself working out with daughter Ella Rae’s boyfriend and reminiscing about how “I used to work out to keep the boys away from my girl, and now, I’m working out with the boyfriend. Imagine that.” Wahlberg also recalled an instance in which he crashed his daughter’s date during a 2017 appearance on The Graham Norton Show. “The kid — she had one that was not a nice boy, and it was innocent enough — but I was like, ‘I wanna meet this kid,’” he told Norton. “I wanna meet him, and then you can hang out with him in a safe environment and she was like, ‘What’s a safe environment, dad?’”

Wahlberg also spoke to Entertainment Tonight in 2017 about adjusting to his daughter’s future dating life. “You know what? I actually… I came to grips with the fact that she’s 14, she’s gonna have boyfriends. Those things happen.” He also mentioned his embarrassing dad tendencies. “I just want affection,” Wahlberg said. “I want to kiss them and hug them, and I usually do it at the most inopportune times, school functions, ball games, things of that nature. But, you know, my intentions are good.”