behind that easy smile there's a
seriously troubled past the way to prove
yourself is to better yourself that's
the American dream
welcome to watchmojo.com along as we
take a closer look at the life of this a
list celebrity to delve into some of its
most upsetting chapters Mark Wahlberg
has achieved the sort of success that
few dare dream about from his modeling
and music career he transitioned into
acting earning himself both Oscar and
Golden Globe nominations spent the last
10 years of my life and bad fight sin
about you and Alice I finally had a good
thing going for me in 2017 he was the
highest-paid actor in the world can't
take it back now everybody heard it it's
out there everybody hear it over the
years he's found similar success behind
the scenes as a television and film
producer Wahlberg is also the co-owner
of a burger chain while burgers which
coupled with other ventures including
stalk axe aquahydrate
a Chevrolet dealership and a cricket
team make him quite the businessman
instantly recognizable and a household
name Mark Wahlberg is just about as big
as they come maybe maybe not what many
people don't know however is that Mark
Wahlberg has a dark past next time they
take this very funny on the bottom with
the rest of them and we're not talking
about the sort of minor skeletons that
all celebrities have in their closet
Wahlberg has made mistakes that could
have ruined his life and which by all
rights should have prevented him from
ever attaining any mainstream success
because before becoming the big screen
icon and businessman he is today Mark
Wahlberg led a very different life if
you take away nothing else from my class
from this experience let it be this if
you're not a genius don't bother
all right Mark Wahlberg was born on June
5th 1971 in Boston's Dorchester
neighborhood to parents Alma Elaine and
Donald Edmond Wahlberg his father was a
teamster and delivery driver his mother
a bank clerk and nurse's assistant Marx
upbringing was a decidedly working-class
one in keeping with the socio-economic
situation of the Dorchester neighborhood
at that time so I brought back a lot of
memories saying it
most of it was really happy happy
thoughts some who said as the youngest
of nine children
you can only assume that the family's
finances were usually stretched quite
thin when he was 11 his parents got
divorced and this seemingly proved a
turning point in his life for the worse
according to locals who grew up in
Dorchester around the same time as Mark
and his siblings the Wahlberg's were a
big presence in the neighborhood one
that people knew to steer clear of they
were described as a quote
tough crowd mark was enrolled at
Boston's Copley Square High School but
by the age of 14 he had dropped out and
that was arguably the least of his
problems by the shockingly young age of
just 13 years old Wahlberg had already
developed a serious cocaine habit and
was abusing other substances as well as
he told Vanity Fair he thanks God that
he was never exposed to heroin because
he's certain he wouldn't have hesitated
to try it many celebrities have had to
struggle with addiction and Wahlberg is
not alone in having been exposed to
drugs at a young age but teenage Mark
Wahlberg didn't limit his bad behavior
to self-destruction were you a good
thief I was pretty good that's pretty
good I was pretty daring apart from the
drug use his other pastimes included
stealing cars selling drugs mugging
wealthier kids around Boston and
frequently getting into fights but this
soon evolved into racially motivated
attacks in 1986
shortly after Wahlberg's 15th birthday
he and three friends were accused of
targeting three black children what am i
hallucinating hit according to court
documents they threatened them told them
they were unwelcome in the neighborhood
and chased after them throwing rocks
while chanting racial slurs and murder
threats ain't no double D homeboy speak
for you damn self the incident only
ended when the kids took refuge in a
Burger King
the next day Wahlberg and two of the
three friends noticed one of the black
children out on a field trip at Savin
Hill Beach they quickly picked up where
they left off harassing the 12 year-old
boy yelling racial slurs threatening him
and throwing rocks
what a preach sent to be an African a
meeting the history lesson forgot we
okay Wahlberg and his friends were
brought to court for having infringed
upon the civil rights of the victims
though this might have served as a
wake-up call for many not Wahlberg less
than two years later in April of 1988 he
assaulted two different Vietnamese men
Wahlberg beat the first over the head
with a piece of wood leaving the man
unconscious the second he punched in the
eye both attacks were clearly racially
motivated as he made numerous racist
remarks during the attack and following
his arrest when brought to the scene of
the crime he didn't attempt to deny it
instead he proudly declared quote I'll
tell you now that's the [ __ ]
whose head I split open Wahlberg was
charged with attempted murder but wound
up instead pleading guilty to felony
assault resulting in a two-year prison
sentence of which he only actually
served 45 days before being released he
seemingly attempted to turn over a new
leaf at this point in his life rather
than continuing to revel in a life of
crime he sought spiritual guidance from
the church and began pursuing a career
in modeling acting and music
unfortunately even as he began to find
success he continued to do and say
troubling things in 1992 he was accused
of breaking his neighbor's jaw in an
allegedly unprovoked attack around the
same time he voiced support for a reggae
star after the latter said that
homosexuals should be quote crucified as
the 90s faded into the background so did
Mark Wahlberg's rap sheet and a
collective memory of his violence and
bigotry I do like the Italian Job the
new millennium saw Mark Wahlberg is sent
to great heights of success his crimes
rarely came up any more that is until he
reminded everyone of them by seeking a
pardon in 2014 the Boston native is
seeking to have a pardon here to be able
to work more closely with local law
enforcement helping at-risk kids critics
felt that his attempt to wipe the slate
clean showed a lack of ownership over
his past acts of hatred others saw it as
a symptom of the privilege enjoyed by
white male celebrities and there will be
many more reasons and you know people
have said because of my celebrity my
success that I'm basically waving that
magic wand but it's not about that has
never been about that I've been
committed to turning my life around and
becoming a
to person the community it was a major
controversy thankfully in 2016 Wahlberg
abandoned his quest for a pardon and
retro actively expressed regret over
ever having pursued it before we
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you're on your phone make sure you go
into your settings and switch on
notifications Mark Wahlberg's evolution
has certainly been slower and more
fraught than most would like but he has
made significant efforts to become a
better person over the years actually
over the years this guy have supported
thousands and thousands of young people
not just in Dorchester where he came
from
but throughout the country though the
pardon was by his own admission a bad
idea it did provide him with an
opportunity to meet with one of his 1988
assault victims and apologized properly
the victim
Johnny trend forgave the actor stating
that quote everyone deserves another
chance I promise nothing like that will
ever happen again
[Music]
and thankfully Mark Wahlberg seems
committed to making the most of his
opportunities by actively seeking to be
a good father to his children and by
giving back via his work with dozens of
charities including his own organization
the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation for
me I just tried to give back to the kids
that are facing you know difficult
situations like the ones I faced you
know that's why I started my Youth
Foundation do you agree with our picks
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