Jenny McCarthy’s 17-year-old son, Evan, is growing up — and her relationship with the teenager is shifting.
“He does love mom still, but he’s got his driver’s license,” the Masked Singer judge, 47, recently told Us Weekly exclusively while promoting a special edition of her SiriusXM show live from Radio Row. “He drives to school and he’s getting very independent, so that is difficult. He doesn’t want me to kiss and love on him anymore because he’s like, ‘I’m a teenager. You can’t do that anymore, Mom.’”
The Illinois native clarified that Evan does this both at home and in public, adding, “I’m like, ‘You’re going to come back when you’re 21 and want to kiss and love me again.’ He’s like, ‘I’ll let you know if that happens.’”
The actress welcomed her son with her ex-husband, John Mallory Asher, in 2002. Following their split three years later, McCarthy went on to wed Donnie Wahlberg, who shares sons Xavier, 26, and Elijah, 18, with his ex-wife, Kimberly Fey.
The Wahlburgers star, 50, opened up about stepparenting in November 2019, telling Us exclusively: “My son is super intellectual and very reserved. So he’s not the, ‘Hey, dad. Let’s go out and play,’ or, ‘I love you, dad’ … type. But he can carry on a great conversation. Where Jenny’s son is super affectionate, will tell you exactly how he feels. He’s not reserved, but he’s not the intellectual type. So we’ve come into each other’s lives and connected with [each other’s kids] in ways that we haven’t connected with our own.”
The singer gushed about McCarthy, calling her the “best wife” and “best stepmom.” Wahlberg told Us at the time: “She’s a great partner and to simplify it, having someone to build traditions with my children and it being Jenny is probably the thing I’m most grateful for. Now our kids are seeing through both rusty and single parents and the struggles we had early on and past relationships now to see us building these traditions and building this family together. Now our kids can see what that looks like and pass it onto their kids. So it’s something to truly be grateful.”
With reporting by Alexandra Hurtado
