Mark Wahlberg admits Hollywood fame comes with ‘baggage’ for his kids

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Mark Wahlberg opened up about the “baggage” that comes with being the child of a celebrity.

During an interview with Fox News Digital at the premiere of his latest action-comedy film, “Balls Up,” the 54-year-old actor discussed how he keeps his kids grounded as they grow up with a famous parent.

“They know dad’s just a regular guy. It just happens to be my job,” he explained. “There are pros and cons to it, right? I mean, if they want to meet somebody, there’s a good chance I could make it happen, but there’s also a lot of baggage that comes with it.”

He went on to say that he makes it a point “to stay as connected to them as possible and be just a normal dad” every day he isn’t acting.

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Mark Wahlberg at the F1 Grand Prix in Las Vegas in November 2025

The “Daddy’s Home” star shares four kids with his wife, Rhea Durham: Ella, 22, Michael, 20, Brendan, 17, and Grace, 16.

His eldest daughter is a student at Clemson University in South Carolina, where Wahlberg recently visited, taking over as bartender during one of the college parties she attended at a bar called The Roar.

WATCH: MARK WAHLBERG MAKES AN EFFORT TO ‘STAY AS CONNECTED’ AS HE CAN TO HIS KIDS

“It was a little difficult, especially the fact that, here’s my daughter now hanging out in a bar when I’m just thinking about taking her to kindergarten, elementary school, but, you know, it goes by fast, and she’s a wonderful young lady, and she’s having an amazing time at Clemson,” he said about the experience. “They have a lot of fun, but she’s getting some work done too.”

Mark Wahlberg poses at the premiere of his new movie, "Balls Up."

This isn’t the first time the actor has crashed a party while visiting his daughter. Back in 2023, Wahlberg shared that he dropped in on a fraternity party while visiting his daughter at the university during parents’ weekend.

Mark Wahlberg at the New York premiere of "Play Dirty" in September 2025

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When speaking with Entertainment Tonight after the visit, he called the party “nuts” and added, “parents’ weekend was incredible.”

“They were having the most fun I’ve ever seen anybody have, ever! Even more than her coming to Vegas,” Wahlberg said. “I was at the frat house and, you know, a couple of spots in town.”

WATCH: MARK WAHLBERG FOUND IT ‘A LITTLE DIFFICULT’ SEEING HIS DAUGHTER AT A COLLEGE BAR

Wahlberg had previously shared with the “Today” show that he “never really had too many regrets about not going to college” until he experienced the frat party at his daughter’s school.

The actor was a teenager when he rose to fame as a member of a boy band, later starting Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch in the ’90s. He transitioned into acting when he landed the role of Ryan Westerburg in the TV movie, “The Substitute” in 1993.

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The cast of "Boogie Nights" in a photo from the set in 1997.

His acting career took off when he starred as Dirk Diggler in the 1997 movie, “Boogie Nights.” When speaking with “Good Morning America” in May 2017, Wahlberg said he almost passed on the role.

“I wouldn’t even read the script because I was turned off by the subject matter. Then you start hearing from everybody in town, ‘No, no, you have to read this thing,’” he said. “Finally, I reluctantly picked it up, read 35 pages, put it down and said, ‘This could be really good or it could be really bad.'”

WATCH: MARK WAHLBERG CALLS HIS LATEST MOVIE ‘BALLS UP’ HIS ‘MOST OUTRAGEOUS’ PROJECT

His latest R-rated action-comedy movie, “Balls Up,” is available now on Prime Video and also stars Paul Walter Hauser, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Molly Shannon.

The movie follows two co-workers who pitch a condom sponsorship to the World Cup in Brazil. Once there, a drunken night out erupts into an international scandal, leading to the two rival co-workers trying to find a way out of Brazil as quickly as possible as fans, executives, and criminals try to hunt them down.

The cast of "Balls Up" at the Los Angeles premiere of the movie in April 2026.

“It’s kind of one of the most outrageous comedies I’ve been a part of,” Wahlberg told Fox News Digital. “Between ‘Ted’ and ‘The Other Guys,’ I mean we’ve done quite a few of them, but again, a great buddy comedy, absurd concept, the circumstances kind of dictate how crazy we get, and this is a wild adventure. People actually love the movie.”

WATCH: PAUL WALTER HAUSER TALKS CHEMISTRY WITH MARK WAHLBERG IN NEW MOVIE

Hauser also spoke with Fox News Digital at the premiere of the film, saying the cast had tons of fun while making the film, noting, “there’s a million takes where I bust out laughing and ruined everything.”

He said that once Wahlberg offered him the role, “it was a very easy yes from me.”

“Hauser and Wahlberg are taking over. No, I hope people like our on-screen pairing. I thought we had pretty good chemistry,” he said. “Mark offered me the role over FaceTime and just called me and was like, dude, I think you’d be great for this, come do it. And it was a very easy yes from me. The script’s dope. Pete Farrelly is an Oscar-winning comedy genius and Mark is one of my favorite actors to watch, now work with.”

Paul Walter Hauser and Mark Wahlberg at the Los Angeles premiere of "Balls Up" in April 2026.

When it comes to pushing comedic boundaries in film, director, Peter Farrelly, also told Fox News Digital they had a great time making the movie.

WATCH: ‘BALLS UP’ DIRECTOR CALLS MOVIE’S CAST ‘WORLD CLASS COMEDY’

“First of all, just to be in Australia, the Gold Coast…the nicest place, and the people are great, and the food was phenomenal,” Farrelly said. “So start with that, and then you’ve got world-class comedy: Eric Andre, Sachs Baron Cohen, Larry David, Mark Wahlberg, Paul Walker Hauser, Molly Shannon. It doesn’t get a lot better than that for comedy.”

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