Actor and Dorchester lunk Mark Wahlberg was at Super Bowl LI between the Patriots and Falcons, but he left before the game was over, with New England facing a deficit. Wahlberg caught shit for being a frontrunner, then said that the reason he’d departed was because his son wasn’t feeling well. That was accurate, but not in the “barfing kid” sense.
Stephen Rodrick profiled Wahlberg for Men’s Health and received this explanation: Small Wahlberg was throwing a damn fit because his team was losing.
But not everyone listens to Mark Wahlberg. You see, he’s got kids. Last year, a mini-scandal arose when Wahlberg was seen leaving the Super Bowl before his beloved Patriots mounted their historic comeback. At the time, he told reporters he had a sick son who needed to get back to their hotel. That’s partly true. The Wahlberg family was watching the game in a luxury suite in Houston’s NRG Stadium while the Patriots were getting pounded. Wahlberg and Rhea Durham’s second son, 8-year-old Brendan, was not handling it well at all.
“He was spitting out F-bombs and going crazy. It was bad,” says Wahlberg, shuddering as if he’s reliving the moment. “He was lying down on the carpet. He was very upset.” Rhea wanted to stay, but Wahlberg wasn’t having it and left with his boy.
I ask Wahlberg if his son learned a valuable lesson about not giving up on your team, and he laughs. “Heck no. He’s a vicious sore loser. He wants the ball. He hates when his brother gets it. When he doesn’t get the ball, he goes crazy. He throws rocks.”
Brendan really is his father’s son.