Celebs

4 things we learned from Mark Wahlberg’s new WSJ interview

The actor's infamous 2:30 a.m. wakeup time has been pushed to 3:30 a.m.

By Susannah Sudborough

November 20, 2022

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Actor and Dorchester native Mark Wahlberg is known for his movie roles as much as his strict fitness routine.

But according to a new interview in The Wall Street Journal, Wahlberg, whose family owns the burger chain Wahlburgers, is switching it up a bit, getting into some new fitness trends like intermittent fasting and ditching his infamous 2:30 a.m. wakeup call.

The 51-year-old businessman also spoke to the Journal about his clothing brand Municipal and upcoming projects.

1. Wahlberg is fasting for 18 hours, five days a week.

Wahlberg told the Journal that his friend Ari Emmanuel, CEO of talent agency Endeavor and the real-life inspiration behind Jeremy Piven’s “Entourage” character, has turned him on to intermittent fasting.

Intermittent fasting is a trendy new fitness and weight loss technique where you only eat for a limited number of hours a day with the goal of restricting calories and forcing your body to burn more calories.

Wahlberg said that on most days, he eats between noon and 6 p.m. only. On more rigorous workout days, he said, he might allow more hours for eating. But for five days a week, he’s fasting for 18 hours.

“I don’t have to do as much cardio, I don’t have to spend as much time in the gym, and I feel like I’m getting better results,” he told the newspaper. “I’m trying to share that information with everybody because I’m really, really seeing the benefits and pretty quickly.”

2. Wahlberg is sleeping in until 3:30 a.m.

Wahlberg seems to be getting the doctor-recommended eight hours of sleep, but his schedule is pretty unique. He said he typically goes to bed at 7:30 p.m. and wakes up around 3:30 or 4 a.m.

“I’ll come home and I’ll be like, ‘Hey, I think I’m going to go to bed early,’ and [my wife] will be like, ‘You don’t have to tell me that. The one night you decide to stay up late, tell me that,'” he told the newspaper.

In the past, Wahlberg revealed he would get up at 2:30 a.m. for a 3:00 a.m. workout.

3. When designing clothes, Wahlberg focuses on “the cool factor.”

Wahlberg told the Journal that when he designs clothes for Municipal, his men’s clothing brand, he prioritizes “the cool factor.”

“You want to put on something that’s really cool and comfortable. Our golf tee has a collar on it, but it’s a flexible and super stretchy T-shirt. You can wear it to play golf, work out, to work,” he told the newspaper.

Wahlberg said the fit and feel of clothing are also very important to him, and models his clothes on high-end fashion brands.

“I wanted it to feel like that, but at a price point that guys who work hard could afford,” he said.

4. Wahlberg is still trying to make “The Fighter 2.”

Wahlberg told the WSJ that he’s still working on developing a sequel to 2010’s “The Fighter.”

“The Fighter” is a biographic sports drama about professional boxer and Lowell native Mickey Ward and his half-brother and trainer Dickey Eklund. The critically-acclaimed film was directed by David O. Russell and starred Wahlberg as Ward and Christian Bale as Eklund.

Wahlberg said the new film would focus on the famous fight trilogy between Ward and champion boxer Arturo Gatti.

Development of the sequel has been discussed publicly since 2013 when “Entourage” star Jerry Ferrara signed on to play Gatti, but filming has never been confirmed and there’s no word on a release date.