When the alarm goes off in the 3 a.m. hour, Mark Wahlberg is ready. “I love getting in a 4 a.m. workout to jump-start my day,” the actor says in the new issue of Us Weekly. “I feel like crap until I can get to the gym.”
In fact, he and his wife, Rhea Wahlberg, are equally committed to fitness — although her routine is a little more reasonable. “Mine is working out with Gunnar Peterson and lots of water,” she shares.
The parents of four — Ella, 14, Michael, 12, Brendan, 9, and Grace, 8 — credit working out and living well for their strong marriage. “You have nothing without your health. And happiness is limited if you don’t feel good about yourself,” says Mark, a cofounder of the supplement line Performance Inspired. As for Rhea, “When I’m feeling good,” she says, “it makes everything that comes with being a mother of four easier to deal with!”
Married since 2009, the couple work hard to keep their kids “normal” growing up in Hollywood, Rhea, 39, says in the new issue: “They see how hard their dad and I work and how busy we both are running the day-to-day life we lead. Mark travels a lot, so with four kids it’s a daily fight to keep everyone on track. The kids see both of us always working harder than anyone else they know. Instilling a strong work ethic is so important to us.”
Of course, the two Wahlberg boys and two girls are aware of how famous their 46-year-old dad is. Notes Rhea, “They know, but they are not impressed at all!” Except for one key time, counters Mark: “They only pull the ‘Dad’s famous’ card when they want to go to a concert or meet someone famous,” says Mark. But for the most part, he adds, “They see me as Dad and that’s all I want.”
For more on Mark and Rhea’s secrets to a strong marriage — including his hilarious ideal date night — pick up the new issue of Us Weekly, on stands now.
