Donnie Wahlberg on "Boston Blue" and the return of Danny Reagan

For 14 years, Donnie Wahlberg starred as Detective Danny Reagan on the CBS police procedural "Blue Bloods." The hit drama about the Reagans, the fictional first family of the New York Police Department, had a loyal following. "I was stopped on airplanes, on trains, on the street, at basketball – you name it. Wherever I was, somebody would tell me they love 'Blue Bloods,'" said Wahlberg.

Now 56, Wahlberg is sitting at a new family's dinner table, in "Boston Blue," a "Blue Bloods" spinoff set in a city the actor knows well.

Wahlberg grew up the eighth of nine kids in the working-class Boston neighborhood of Dorchester. "We were poor," he said. "There were nine kids, a dog, a cat, and a grandma in the basement, and my mom and dad for a while. There were kids coming and going, running away, being arrested. There were arguments, fights, alcohol. I definitely learned from some of my older siblings that, here's a clear path of what not to do."

Wahlberg says he was the family peacemaker. "I don't like to use the term ('cause I don't wanna insult my other siblings), but one of the adults. My role was to get everyone together and be happy by any means necessary."

The discord wasn't just inside the house; 1970s Boston was a cauldron of racial tension. A controversial court-ordered desegregation program bussed students to schools outside their neighborhoods. As a first grader, Wahlberg was sent from Irish-Catholic Dorchester to predominantly Black Roxbury.

He describes it as "probably the most important thing that ever happened in my life."

Because? "Because I don't know what I would've not been exposed to, had I not been on those buses. In my neighborhood, if I woulda said, 'Yeah, I wanna be a singer one day,' I could think of five kids in the neighborhood who would punch me in the face. And two of them lived in my house!"

It was after hearing hip hop in the fourth grade that Wahlberg caught the performing bug. "I would listen to 'Rapper's Delight,' I just would start writing my own raps and making up my own songs," he said.

That helped Wahlberg earn an audition, at just 14 years old, with Maurice Starr, the local impresario who'd founded New Edition and was starting a new band. "Maurice was looking for the equivalent of the Osmonds to the Jacksons," he said.

What did his parents think? "My mom was super supportive," he recalled. "And I said, 'Dad, I'm gonna start this music band.' And he said, 'Well, I tell ya' what: If you ever do make it big, and you come home, and you've changed, I'm gonna kick your ass.'"

In 1984, Donnie and his younger brother Mark became the first two members of New Kids on the Block. But the family affair was short-lived, as Mark quit. "He didn't like singing," said Donnie. "He couldn't sing. There's a scene of him as Dirk Diggler in 'Boogie Nights' singing horribly. That's actually better than he sang as a member of New Kids!"

With four other members in place (including some of Wahlberg's schoolmates), the group struggled at first to find its footing. But by the late 1980s, they appeared to have the right stuff:

While the band was popular, it was far from critics' choice. "I really struggled with the criticism of the band – we couldn't sing, we were puppets, we were fake," said Wahlberg.

To feel better about himself, Wahlberg focused on writing and producing, not just for the New Kids, but also for his brother Mark. Soon enough they had a #1 hit, "Good Vibrations."

Donnie said, "Marky Mark and my brother's career and his music was really when I started to get my head screwed on right of how I could really prove myself."

Prove himself … and protect his kid brother. "My brother was getting in trouble and my mom was like, 'You gotta help your brother and get him out of the streets,'" said Wahlberg. "I don't like to wear the Marky Mark and my brother's career as some kind of badge of honor. He worked very hard for his career. But I really did, you know, help him in a big way, and helped myself in a big way in doing that."

After the New Kids broke up in 1994, Wahlberg turned to acting, breaking through in "The Sixth Sense." Other roles followed, including "Band of Brothers" and "Boomtown," along with reunions for New Kids on the Block, which still keep him busy.

Wahlberg now lives outside Chicago, in a home he shares with his second wife, TV personality Jenny McCarthy.

"We have very similar upbringings, which really helps," said McCarthy. "I think we're both people-pleasers, which could also be bad if you're not in therapy about it!"

"Lotta therapy we've each had, and together," said Wahlberg.

"But we're caretakers, you know, of our family, which I think is something to be proud of," McCarthy added.

They may now live in McCarthy's hometown, but Boston is never far from Wahlberg's heart, as evident in his home office, which features mementoes from Bill Belichick, Bill Russell and Larry Bird.

And then there's his new show which he wasn't sure he wanted to do after "Blue Bloods"' cancellation. "I love 'Blue Bloods,'" he said. "I fought tooth-and-nail to keep it on the air. And here's an opportunity to keep this character alive. And suddenly, when I started to look at it through that lens, it was like, how do I not do this? If all those millions of 'Blue Bloods' fans don't show up and love it, then I know we put our best foot forward."

Between his TV work and concerts, it's a busy life for Donnie Wahlberg. "People say to me, 'Oh, gosh, when do you sleep?' You want me to complain? Everything I ever wanted, I'm doing it. I wanna work harder, I want to be worthy of it. I want to be worthy of … the gift that so many people give me of their time. How can I not work my ass off to repay that?"

But he says he's just doing what he's always done: "My childhood was spent trying to bring joy and love to a large group of people amidst chaos and confusion and pain. And it's what I do for a living right now. It's what I've grown up to do."

WEB EXTRA: Extended interview - Donnie Wahlberg (Video)

To watch a trailer for "Boston Blue" click on the video player below:

For more info:

• "Boston Blue" debuts on CBS and Paramount+ Oct. 17

Story produced by Michelle Kessel. Editor: Ed Givnish.

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