Mark Wahlberg Celebrates ‘Big Bro’ Donnie’s Birthday With Epic Throwback Photo

Mark Wahlberg is close with his brothers and for an example, you don’t need to look much further than his Twitter post in honor of “big bro” Donnie Wahlberg‘s birthday. The Boogie Nights star posted a throwback of himself with this brother from their music days, with Donnie memorably performing with New Kids on The Block and his brother was still Marky Mark.

Wahlberg added the hashtag “family” at the end of his post, sending a sweet message to his brother now that they are both established and wiser.

“Happy 50th birthday [Donnie Wahlberg]!!” Wahlberg wrote. “We have come a long way since this photo — wouldn’t be where I am today without you! Love you big bro.”

The Transformers star included a big heart emoji to top off the sweet post. In the photo, Donnie is wearing one of his leather jackets from the New Kids days, while Wahlberg is clad in a black dress shirt and a Miami Heat hat — something that got some attention from NBA stars Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade on Instagram.

Donnie Wahlberg took time to respond to his brother’s message on Twitter, adding the hashtag “forever” to go along with his brother’s “family.”

“Thank you and proud of you always,” Wahlberg wrote, including emojis for praying hands and a red heart.

The Blue Bloods star addressed his birthday on Twitter, sharing his love for fans and friends he has made across his long career.

“I’m about to turn 40 again for the 10th time but before I do I wanna say how [thankful] I am to my Blockhead/NK Familia,” Donnie wrote in a tweet. “You mean so much to me. I don’t what I’d do without you in my life but I’m glad I’ll never have to find out. You’re stuck with me forever.”

Donnie also sent out a blanket thanks to everyone who wished him a happy birthday. He also included a hashtag to point out that “50 is the new 30.”

“Too many [birthday] wishes to possibly respond to all of them, half them or even a fraction of them,” Donnie opened his grateful tweet with. “Just know, they mean the world to me and I am truly.”

Donnie is set to celebrate 50 years with the tenth season of Blue Bloods on CBS in the fall. He also just wrapped up The Mixtape Tour with New Kids on the Block back in July, hitting the road with other late-80s and early-90s mainstays Salt-n-Pepa, Tiffany, Debbie Gibson and Naughty by Nature. The group also released an EP titled Thankful to coincide with the tour.

Wahlberg is starring in the film Wonderland to close out 2019 and is set to take on The Six Billion Dollar Man in 2020.