Former boyband star-turned Hollywood mainstay Donnie Wahlberg revealed his life of fame and success, and even his happy marriage, still left a void in his life that he finally understood could only be filled by God. The revelation, Walhberg shared in a recent podcast appearance, came in the last year of his life and not because things were going poorly, but exactly the opposite.
For context, Donnie Walhberg revealed earlier this year that The New Kids On The Block would be reuniting for a short residency in Las Vegas. Despite this late-career resurgence and his admittedly great marriage, he said he did some introspection and despite seemingly having it all, told his wife he still felt like he was at the bottom and needed God.
“You know, you say people in the industry and stuff like that are broken…I’m realizing in this last year, man, you know, I’m broken too. You know, I’m broken too. And I woke up this morning and I’ve been doing this practice. Jenny and I Bible study together, we pray together, we do all the things,” Wahlberg shared.
“And when I tell you, like, this is really should be just the interview about my wife, because I told her, like, over a year ago, I was building this show, the new kids show in Las Vegas, and I I said, you know, I’ve been on and off, like, really wanting to commit my life to Jesus and and then I would do it. I’d be like, but I didn’t have the resources,” he admitted.
“I grew up in a Catholic church, like, I’ll just go to church and I’ll just go to church and I’ll figure it out. And it was like, and I was like, it’s different. So I’m missing something, you know, missing a connection. And I didn’t, you know, you would think I could have just turned on Instagram and watched you or somebody, all these people that I love so much now, and got some insight. But I just kept trying to do it myself,” he said.
“Because when I got famous at like, 1920 years old. So the guy putting our family together, it instantly became this thing where I was, like, held up on this pedestal to everybody, everybody, people that I used to look up to, grown ups be like, Hey, how do I fix this? I’m like, What do I know? I’m in a boy band, like, but then I’m also a people pleaser, right? I want to fix everyone’s problems inherently. So now I’m like, Well, I got to have all the answers. And I literally have walked around for the last 30 something, 37, 38 years, thinking I have all the answers, and it’s been so difficult in the last year to realize I don’t, I don’t have them all,” he went on.
“I can try, and I know God’s doing all the work, but I finally got to a point where I was like, I can’t do it anymore without him. I’m I miss. I’m missing something in my life, and I have a wonderful wife, wonderful kids. I have everything. So as I am testifying right now, I don’t have a story of having everything and losing it. I don’t have a story of being a drug addict and recovering and God bless all those people who find their way everything to the outside, to everyone looks perfect.
“And I was empty. I was empty without him, and I was existing without him and trying to, you know, glorify Him at times, or acknowledge Him at times, but not glorify Him. And and I sat down with my wife one morning, and I was in Las Vegas. I just finished creating the new kids Las Vegas show and being involved in creating this new spin off TV show that I’m the star of. And thank you. And in the whole to the outside world, it’s like, you are at the top, and I felt at the bottom.”
“And I talked to my wife, and I said, I have to connect with Jesus. I have to give my life to him now. And she was like, of course. And I was like, waiting for her to be like, you can get weird on me. And like, as I said, we both grew up Catholic, and we talk about God and stuff, but we also looked at to other people. We looked to all these gurus and experts and stuff,” he finished.