Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?
Mark Wahlberg recently brought a special guest to his workout sesh: His eldest daughter Ella Rae Wahlberg's boyfriend.
"I used to work out to keep the boys away from my girl and now, I'm working out with the boyfriend," the Fighter actor said in a Jan. 7 Instagram video. "Imagine that. Self-made."
The clip shows him inside a gym, standing next to Ella's smiling BF, with both of them wearing matching orange T-shirts bearing the name of his sports utility gear company Municipal.
"Heyyy keep 'em close," commented Mario Lopez, father of two sons and daughter. "Smart."
Mark's wife and Ella's mom, Rhea Durham, responded to the actor's post with five laughing emojis. Octavia Spencer, who starred with him in the 2018 film Instant Family, commented with four red heart emojis.
In addition to Ella, who celebrated her 18th birthday in September, the 50-year-old buff actor and Rhea, 43, are also parents to daughter Grace Margaret Wahlberg, who will turn 12 this week, and sons Michael Wahlberg, 15, and Brendan Wahlberg, 13.
In 2017, Mark spoke on Live with Kelly and Ryan about how he felt about Ella dating, saying, "I want to know who she's going to be hanging out with, what his parents are like, all that stuff."
Kelly Ripa asked, "A boy would be terrified of you, wouldn't he?" to which the actor replied, "I would think so."
He recalled a time when she brought home a boy. "He came to my house," the actor said. "He brought his mother along. He was very sweet and kind."
Mark continued, "It was one of those things where, I was like, 'Oh wow, this boy's really nice' and now he's not around anymore. I don't know what happened. But I was not trying to intimidate him. I guess the relationship just didn't work out, and somehow I got blamed."
Mark also spoke meeting the boy and his mother on The Graham Norton Show that year.
"This kid comes over and he one-ups me," he said. "He brings his mom."
Mark continued, "I was like, ready. I had the whole thing. I had a couple of my buddies there. All of a sudden, he and his mom come in and I'm like, 'Hey, so what do you do at school? Do you have any extracurricular activities?'"