Wahlberg is married to Jenny McCarthy, who shares son Evan, 20, with her ex, John Asher.
Donnie Wahlberg has a special connection with his stepson, Evan. The actor and musician is currently married to Jenny McCarthy, who shares son Evan, 20, with her ex, John Asher. Before McCarthy married Wahlberg, she had been married to the director who she met on the set of the movie Diamonds in 1999 and later married him in the same year. Soon after their marriage, they welcomed their son Evan but the marriage did not last long. McCarthy filed for divorce in 2005 after six years, citing irreconcilable differences.
That same year, she learned that her son had autism. Life as a single mom was not easy but she later met Wahlberg and the two began publicly dating in July 2013 and were engaged by April of the following year. Wahlberg also has children from a previous relationship. He shares sons Xavier Alexander, 29, and Elijah Hendrix, 20, with ex Kimberley Fey.
Wahlberg proposed to McCarthy with the help of her then-teenage son, Evan, in the sweetest way. Speaking of his proposal at the time, she recounted to ABC News, “This weekend I was sitting with Donnie … and he went into the other room and out came Evan with a card that said ‘Will’ and he handed it to me.” She went on, “Then Evan ran away, and Evan came in with a card that said ‘You.’… I just started crying, and then Evan came back into the room with the word ‘Marry’ — but spelled wrong.” When she realized what was happening, she screamed “YES” out loud. At this, Evan quipped in with, “I have another dad,” and the new family of three shared a tender moment with one another.
Over the years the three have gotten closer as a family. The 52-year-old musician told Us Weekly that McCarthy has "just been such a great wife and stepmom to my son.” “One of the interesting things about us as parents is 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.’ He’s not that 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 our kids sort of, we connect with our kids in ways that we haven’t connected with our own. So with Evan, Jenny’s son, I get all this amazing ways to connect with him that I don’t get with my son and Jenny now can sit down with my son and talk about …” McCarthy interjected, “Intellectual conversations.” “Yeah. Really unique conversations with him,” Wahlberg mentioned. In a recent Instagram post, he wished his stepson a happy birthday captioning the post: Happy 20th Birthday to my awesome step son @evanjasher! Hope you have the happiest day ever, Evan.
References:
https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/jenny-mccarthy-engaged-donnie-wahlberg/story?id=23346754
Cover Image Source: (L) Photo by Theo Wargo | Getty Images (R) Instagram | evanjasher
