Singer-songwriter Donnie Wahlberg adopted his autistic stepson…
After he found out that the child’s father left him following the diagnosis.
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Donnie gained a considerable amount of fame as a member of the 1980s pop group New Kids on the Block…
The 5 teens survived a false start with their debut album which proved to be a hit with the single ‘Please Don’t Go Girl’ on their second in 1988.
They had top ten hits with their songs ‘The Right Stuff’ and ‘I’ll Be Loving You Forever.’
The boys went on to sell over seventy million albums worldwide and also worked with other boy bands, including Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC.
Donnie played a bad boy persona in real life, which included an alleged arson at a Kentucky hotel, but the charges were dropped.
His numerous tattoos and body piercings also backed up that imagery of him being a rebel.
Although he received bad press, Donnie continued to help his brother Mark’s Funky Bunch group write, arrange and produce their first 2 albums.
He then transformed himself into an actor, a route taken earlier by his talented brother Mark, who eventually turned out to become a bigger movie star.
Despite this, Donnie still pursued his acting…
He first showed up on the big-screen action and made his debut as a “tough guy” thug in Mickey Rourke’s Bullet in 1996.
He also went on and did a thriller titled Ransom and an indie horror Black Circle Boys in 1997.
After a couple of TV movies, he finally starred in the movie Southie in 1998.
But it wasn’t until 1999 that Donnie experienced a hit with the psychological thriller The Sixth Sense…
He also backed up this performance with a major role as a WWII paratrooper in the critically-hailed ten-part epic Band of Brothers in 2001, which won multiple Emmy awards.
Donnie then went on to star in other projects such as Triggermen, Dreamcatcher, Saw II, Annapolis, Saw IV, and Zookeeper.
He has also clocked in lead roles for such roughhewn TV series as Runaway, The Kill Point, Return of the Mac, and most notably as detective Danny Reagan in the Blue Bloods in 2010.
As well as his successful career, Donnie’s personal life has also been highly publicized.
Donnie married Kim Fey in 1999 and the pair welcomed 2 sons Xavier and Elijah.
But things started to get rocky between them…
And so they called it quits and divorced in August 2008 on the grounds of irreconcilable differences.
Now the actor is married to Jenny McCarthy.
The duo met during appearances on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, and Donnie later admitted that he held off on making a move.
In 2006, Donnie opened up about their relationship with US Weekly.
“Besides being the best wife that I could have ever imagined having, she’s also the best stepmom and mother. She’s a great partner and to simplify it, having someone to build traditions with my children and it being Jenny is probably the thing I’m most grateful for,” he said.
And now, Donnie has revealed he adopted Jenny’s son after her child’s father cut off ties with him.
Jenny cited irreconcilable differences when she divorced her first husband in 2005. In her book, Louder than Words: A Mother’s Journey in Healing Autism she details the breakdown of her marriage.
According to reports, in the book, she mentioned her son was diagnosed with autism in the same year as her divorce in 2005.
While the diagnosis shocked her, it did not upset her or change her feelings about her son in the least.
Jenny admitted: “John was starting to get angry at me because he felt ignored. The only fantasies I wanted to imagine were Evan being able to say, ‘I love you, mommy.’ I didn’t care if I never had s*x again.”
But after her divorce, she soon dated Jim Carey, who was very involved with her son. However, the couple then split up and Jenny met Donnie.
After a few years of dating, Donnie decided to propose to Jenny. In the proposal, he included her autistic son, Evan.
In an interview, Jenny described the proposal, and said: “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…”
“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,” she recalled.
She realized it was a proposal at that point and said “YES!”
Evan reportedly chimed in and said, “I have another dad,” and the trio shared a sweet moment together.
And although Evan’s father is back in his life now that he is an adult, he and Donnie still have a wonderful friendship.
What do you think?