Donnie Wahlberg - A Tough Detective, Son, And Brother Who Leads With Loyalty

… plays Danny Reagan, a tough detective, son, and brother who leads with loyalty.

- Fred Schruers

If the dark secret of Donnie Wahlberg’s long and successful showbiz career is a predilection for energy drinks, no one working on today’s photo shoot is about to give him grief for it. Since turning up a few hours ago, Wahlberg has been a model of friendly comportment. Throughout multiple costume changes and a succession of both still and video sessions, he’s been laughing, solicitous, and just plain eager to help.

Wahlberg is this gregarious and generous despite what would seem to be an exhausting schedule. When his week of 10-hourplus days playing Blue Bloods detective Danny Reagan on a New York set comes to a close, he flies back to Chicago, where he lives with his wife, actress Jenny McCarthy, his 17-year-old son, Elijah, and her 16-yearold son, Evan, before returning to the city on Sunday.

“Even if I work Thursday and can’t fly home with her [McCarthy spends midweeks on the set of her Sirius show in Manhattan], she’ll book a flight that gives her a couple hours to spend with me on our set on her way to LaGuardia,” he says. “We—with our sons—really do everything to be together.”

And when the show is on hiatus, rather than kicking back on a beach, Wahlberg can frequently be found touring with the longlived band New Kids on the Block, which originally launched him (and, circuitously, his brother Mark) into fame.

Nine seasons into the Blue Bloods life, Wahlberg clearly enjoys his life, wherever he happens to be. When he’s complimented for his great attitude during the photo shoot, posing repeatedly with good humor in between riffing with co-star Bridget Moynahan, he smiles and responds, “Who am I to give anyone a hard time?”