Jenny McCarthy Won’t Co-Host ‘Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve’ This Year

Jenny McCarthy won’t be a presence during this year’s annual New Year’s Eve staple alongside Ryan Seacrest. While she has been the co-host for Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve for a decade, this year she’s staying home.

McCarthy and husband Donnie Wahlberg are staying home to celebrate with some extended family, something that makes the Blue Bloods actor fill with glee according to The Daily Mail.

“It’s amazing, to be able to spend some time together this Christmas and not have to think, ‘We have to leave tomorrow for Times Square for New Year’s Eve,’” Wahlberg told Closer Weekly. “The first New Year’s Eve she hosted I performed with New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys. The last one she hosted, I performed again with New Kids on the Block. So her 10-year run of hosting NYE was book-ended with the first day I met her and I got to spend it with her again performing both times, so it’s really … it’s kind of cool.”

He joked that if she decides to host again in 2020, he’ll just have to perform to keep the streak alive.

“You know, it’s going to be the first New Year’s since we’ve been together that we don’t have to stop kissing at midnight,” Wahlberg continued. “We won’t have Ryan Seacrest in our ear saying, ‘Donnie, Jenny, what do you have to say?”

One reason the couple has opted to stay home is to spend more time with their children. Donnie is the father of sons Xavier, 26, and Elijah, 18. McCarthy is mother to Evan, 17, who Wahlberg is also a stepfather to.

“We’re going to be home for Christmas with our kids,” Wahlberg told the outlet. “We’re going to spend the holidays together, not on television, for the first time in a long time. It’s just going to be great.”

Before their New Year’s Eve at home, the couple spent a date night out watching the Boston Celtics take on the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday. Both shared photos of themselves at the event on their social pages, with McCarthy calling it a “date night with my boo.”

Wahlberg captioned it similarly on his own page and also shared a snapshot of McCarthy smooching his mother on the lips. It got a good response from Donnie Wahlberg but also caught the attention of brother Mark Wahlberg who responded with a series of emojis, including a red heart and praying hands.

Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve will air on ABC starting at 8 p.m. on Dec. 31. It will continue throughout the night surrounding local programming, with BTS headlining the show.