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.
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 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.”
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.
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. ” 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.
His acting career took off when he starred as Dirk Diggler in the 1997 movie, “.” When speaking with “Good Morning America” in May 2017, Wahlberg said he almost passed on the role.
“I wouldnt 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.Â
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.
“It’s kind of one of the I’ve been a part of,” Wahlberg told Fox News Digital. “Between Ted and The Other Guys, I
