A Troubled Past
Many fans of Mark Wahlberg have little idea just how troubled the famous actor and musician’s adolescence was. Born in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, Wahlberg was youngest of nine children who all resided in a single three-bedroom apartment. By the time he turned 13, he had developed a serious drug problem.
Addicted to cocaine among other illicit substances, he quickly dropped out of school and joined a gang. An original member of The New Kids on the Block with his brother Donnie, Mark Wahlberg also lost interest in performing with the group. He left the New Kids just before they rocketed to worldwide fame.
Teenage Years
Driven in large part by his drug dependency, Mark Wahlberg began getting into trouble with the law. He had more than 20 run-ins with police during his tumultuous teenage years. In addition to dealing drugs, Wahlberg engaged in several assaults against minorities within the Dorchester community. At age 15, he menaced a group of African American school children, shouting racial epithets and hurling rocks at them.
Wahlberg faced far more serious charges at age 16 when he assaulted two men of Vietnamese descent with little or no provocation. Both men sustained serious injuries in the attack and one was left with serious vision impediments. Originally charged with attempted murder, Mark Wahlberg eventually plead guilty to assault with criminal contempt and served 45 days of a two-year sentence at Boston’s Deer Island House of Correction.
A Stay in Prison
Although traumatic, the prison stay ultimately had an extremely positive effect on young Wahlberg. “I’d ended up in the worst place I could possibly imagine,” he recalls, “and I never wanted to go back.”
After withdrawing from cocaine in Deer Island, he reentered the music business as the front man for the hip-hop oriented group Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. Produced by his brother Donnie, his debut album Music for the People became an outstanding success. The record’s hit single, “Good Vibrations,” rapidly rose to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and later went certified platinum.
A Great Success for Mark Wahlberg
Mark Wahlberg would go on to even greater achievements as a Hollywood actor. After capturing the attention of audience and critics alike as the character of Mickey in the Leonardo DiCaprio film The Basketball Diaries, Wahlberg Mark would go on to star in widely-acclaimed blockbusters such as Boogie Nights, The Perfect Storm, and The Departed. His role in The Departed would earn him 2006 supporting actor nominations from both the Golden Globes and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
A Recent Full Recovery
The final steps in Mark Wahlberg’s journey to sobriety were taken only recently. Spurred on by his love of his family, Wahlberg officially quit using tobacco, marijuana and alcohol at age of 40. In particular, the actor names his young daughter as his inspiration for giving up pot. He simply didn’t want to expose her to the same unhealthy influences that he grew up witnessing. Now completely clean and sober, Mark Wahlberg is healthier and happier than ever.
Wahlberg’s story shows how anyone can overcome addiction with the right help. Contact us today at Blu By the Sea to learn how you can overcome addiction in your life, or help someone else overcome their problem.