Mark Wahlberg: To Fail As A Parent Is To "Fail At Everything"

Superstar actor Mark Wahlberg is the epitome of a working dad who juggles a busy career with raising a family. The hunky hottie has been with wife Rhea Durham since 2001 and they are raising four children of whom the youngest, Grace, turned a year old at the beginning of January. Ella is the eldest at age 7, Michael is almost 5 and Brendan is 2.

In an interview with Boston Common Mark acknowledges that one of his challenges is to reach a balance between raising children with privilege and raising them with values.

I want to give my kids the world, but I also want them to appreciate everything, to succeed, to be good people, to enjoy life. This is my most important role. If I fail at this, I fail at everything."

The youngest of nine children, Mark grew up surrounded by violence and addiction which left him with many of his own demons to fight. The former rapper spoke of the continuous battle his parents had to raise their children while barely earning enough for basic necessities.

For a long time I thought, like most kids, that my parents didn’t know what they were talking about and were completely out of touch,” he says. “If I’d heeded everything they tried to instill in me, I might have avoided a lot of trouble.”