Donnie Wahlberg thinks he knows why most Hollywood marriages don’t last: they don’t put each other first.
Wahlberg and his wife, Jenny McCarthy, celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary in 2024. They have a tradition of renewing their vows every year on their anniversary.
Given the couple’s successful marriage, the “Blue Bloods” actor his perspective on the pitfalls many Hollywood couples face in their relationships.
“Our relationship is at the center of our lives. You know, we put the relationship first and the career second. And whenever we do that, our careers, more good things into our careers because we put each other first, right?”
“And I think that’s probably where a lot of Hollywood couples go wrong, is they put Hollywood first or their careers first, and they put the relationship second. We put the relationship first. And in doing that, every decision we make is based on how is it going to impact our family? How is it going to impact our relationship?” Wahlberg said.
The couple is a success story in an industry where, sadly, marriages are more likely to fail.
New research from Marriage Foundation has found celebrities are twice as likely to divorce as the rest of us one stat reveals. The research revealed the celebrity divorce rate over the first fourteen years of marriage to be at 50 percent, double the current divorce rate over the same period, which is at 26 percent.
Wahlberg, a founding member of New Kids on the Block, and McCarthy, known for judging “Masked Singer,” began their relationship in July 2014 and married a month later in August 2014.
in April 2014, a little more than a year after they first met. He proposed with a yellow sapphire in hand and a little help from the other most important guy in McCarthy’s life, son Evan.
“This weekend I was sitting with Donnie and he went into the other room and out came Evan with a card that said ‘Will.’ And he ran away and came back with a card that said ‘You,’ and I knew what was happening and I just started crying,” McCarthy relayed the story on The View. “And then he came out with a card that said ‘Marry,’ but it was spelled ‘Mary,’ and the last time Donnie came out with Evan and Evan’s shirt said ‘Me?’ and he was holding the ring. He asked, ‘Will you marry me?’ I of course said yes.
“And in that moment, Evan yelled, ‘I have another dad! I have another dad.’ And it was just—it made all of us cry,” she said, tearing up. “I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. He’s so wonderful.”