Riding the wave of a fresh season renewal for his cornerstone drama Blue Bloods, Donnie Wahlberg credited his mother for much of his success in a new interview.
“Somehow I think she instilled in me, because of our connection, that there was something great out there if I just believe and stay the course, and I did,” the actor told TODAY in an interview.
Blue Bloods isn’t the only aspect of his career worth celebrating, though. Wahlberg and his former boy band brothers are toasting to 35 years since the release of New Kids on the Block’s 1988 chart-topping album, Hangin’ Tough. Wahlberg says he’s still in awe of the career he’s had thanks to that first foray into the music scene.
“It’s beyond anything I could have ever imagined,” he said. “And I’m incredibly grateful every day that I’m alive and I get to do these things that I love.”
Growing up in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, in a large Catholic family, Wahlberg said his mother preached to him a work ethic and drive that he now wishes he’d taken more seriously.
“Her advice would be the [same] advice that I would give to young Donnie,” Wahlberg said. “But I think Donnie took that advice and stayed the course, no matter what challenges came his way. I think her advice is the advice that I would give right back to me again — because it worked.”
The advice? Something better awaits those who work for it.
Donnie Wahlberg is thankful for his NKOTB brothers: “I had four bandmates with me that I could lean on”
And work he did. Wahlberg said his boy band is often remembered as an instant success, but that’s not entirely true. The teens paid their dues coming up in Hollywood. “We used to do concerts where three people were there in the seats in the audience. And it was my mom, my sister and one of the other guys’ moms,” Wahlberg laughed.
Five years after first joining NKOTB in 1984, Wahlberg and the boys enjoyed a No. 1 album. But even then, at the apparent top of the mountain, nothing was given and everything had to be earned.
Wahlberg would soon begin taking acting more seriously in the early 1990s — a journey which he’s enjoyed ever since. Now over 30 years later, between the steady acting, music, and restaurant ventures he’s started with his brothers, the actor says he’s grateful for every moment.
“I never didn’t think of [success] in terms of fame as much as I thought in terms of my band actually playing a concert where someone showed up,” he says. “When I was younger, it wasn’t so much, the success I dreamed was impossible. I wouldn’t have worked so hard at it if I didn’t think it was possible. So, I did it, and I committed to it, and got there.”