I was born in 1969, August 17. You know what's funny, I used to be excited that I was born in 1969, 'cause it was a great year. So many great things happened. It's kinda scary to think that someone might say one day, "Yeah, that was the year Donnie Wahlberg was born." That's crazy!
I've been in Boston my whole life, my whole family's been in Boston their whole lives. I've never lived outside of Dorchester - which is a section of Boston - in my life, 'till just now.
When I was born, I was the eighth, but my little brother Mark, the youngest, he's the ninth. I've got an older brother Bobbo, then next older, there's Tracey, then Jimbo, Paul, Michelle, Arthur, and Debbie's the oldest. Don't ask me ages, because I don't know anyone in my family's ages. My parents are Alma and Donald. My full name is Donald E. Wahlberg, Jr. My mother always called me Baby Donnie. My friends called me Donnie, only in school was I called Donald. Donnie was always spelled the same way. When I was real little, my dad got me a baseball shirt with my name on it. That's how it was spelled and that's how I like it.
When I was born, we lived in an apartment in Dorchester. We bought a house when I was about five years old. My brothers Arthur and Paul shared a room, my three sisters were together and four of us younger boys were in the same room. We had all bunk beds, but sometimes I'd go share with Mark. I always like the feeling of having lots of other kids in the room with me - to this day, I don't like being alone.
My father was kinda strict, stricter than my mother. It wasn't that my parents didn't allow us to do things, they were good. I mean, some of my friends couldn't even go up to certain neighborhoods, things like that. My family was never worried about that. I could do anything I wanted during the course of the day, as long as I was back for dinner. They didn't have many rules, but the ones they did, they liked to enforce. I never got grounded or anything like that, but if I did something messed up, they'd make me stay in, just for that night, or something. And that would be torture enough, because I wanted to always be out runnin' the streets and stuff.
I know that my parents sometimes feel that they didn't do a good job, and I always try and tell them that they did a great job. One of my brothers, Jimbo, he really had problems growin' up. He even spent some time in jail. But now that we look back on it, we kind of realize that Jimbo and I, we both grew up in the same house, had the same upbringing, same advantages and disadvantages - and made completely different choices about things. Jimbo's decisions got him into trouble. Maybe seeing him go down made me stay positive even though he did wild stuff he always influenced me to do good. I'm not ashamed of him and I hope he isn't ashamed of himself. Every day I see him living straight, it makes me proud to be a Wahlberg.
We had the usual brotherly rivalries in my family. Like we'd fight over who was the best looking, who had the best build, who was the toughest, stuff like that. We'd roughhouse, throw pillows, wrestle. But that was among us. Forget it if someone outside the family tried to mess with one of us - he'd have to take all of us on.
When I was growing up, I was always the family peacemaker, I couldn't stand to see people fighting - not seriously fighting, that is - I would always try to convince whoever was fighting to make up. Even now, I can't leave the house mad at somebody, I can't go to bed mad, I can't hang up the phone if I'm still arguing. There's something in me, I don't what it is, but it's like I just have to fix things. Can't leave them unresolved. It hurts too much.
When things started goin' right for one of us, things started goin' right for everyone. When I started gettin' the records goin' and stuff, all of a sudden I noticed that my brother was gettin' out of jail and my other brother finally became a carpenter, which he'd been trying to do for years. And my other brother got a job on a cruise ship as a chef, which was his big thing. And my sister got married and had a baby and they're all doin' great. I'm proud of my family, and proud of my parents, it's funny when you are not with your family for a while you really start to realize how much we all take our families for granted. It may not seem like a big deal to be able to walk through the house in your underwear with your sister around, but live in a hotel room for 2 years and you'll see how really special and close a family is. My family is truly where my heart is. I love them. I miss them, but also I enjoy sharing my success with them. They're like celebrities too now. I love sharing my good fortune with them. There's so many things I wanted when I had no money. Now I don't want them. I just want to do for my friends and family. Money, fame, status - that doesn't mean Jack to me if I ain't got my family here cuz if you think about it a family is all you've got.
Next: Donnie Wahlberg - Hard Lessons....
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