Donnie Wahlberg Eagerly Became Stepfather To Jenny McCarthy’s Son With Autism After His Biological Dad 'Felt Ignored’ & Left

Apr 05, 2023 by apost team

Donnie Wahlberg has been a crush for many teenage girls over the years, especially during the heyday of the boy band he co-founded, New Kids on the Block, during the late '80s to the early '90s.

While he was dubbed the bad boy of New Kids on the Block, he eventually proved critics wrong over the years when he became a family man. Wahlberg is more than just eye candy — he also has a good heart.

In August 1999, Wahlberg married Kimberly Fey. They share two sons, Xavier, born in 1993, and Elijah, whom they welcomed in 2001. However, they decided to end their marriage and filed for divorce in 2008, nearly a decade after they tied the knot.

Wahlberg met actress and TV personality Jenny McCarthy in 2012, but they only reconnected a year later. In March 2013, Wahlberg made an appearance on McCarthy’s talk show "The Jenny McCarthy Show." Then in July 2013, reports about Wahlberg and McCarthy dating surfaced following a report by Us Weekly.

Fast forward to April 2014, when the couple announced their engagement on "The View" and got married four months later, in August 2014.

When Wahlberg married McCarthy, they each already had children of their own, and together they enjoy their blended family setup.

In an interview with Us Weekly in November 2019, Wahlberg described McCarthy as an amazing mom and stepmom to their kids.  

“Besides being the best wife that I could have ever imagined having, she’s also the best stepmom and mother,” Wahlberg said.

McCarthy’s son Evan Joseph, who she had with her ex, John Asher, was diagnosed with autism when he was born. Despite McCarthy’s child being from another man, Wahlberg stepped up to become his father and treated him as his own.

McCarthy and her ex-husband, Asher, met in 1999 on the set of the film "Diamonds," and were married that same year. They had Evan soon after, but after a few years, their union wasn't working. McCarthy filed for divorce in 2005, which was the same year they learned of Evan's autism diagnosis. She told People about the breakdown of her marriage:

"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 sex again.”

The couple decided that Asher would leave the family home and McCarthy continued looking after Evan on her own. It would be nearly 10 years until Wahlberg entered their lives to become the best husband and stepfather he could be.

Wahlberg is one proud dad to Evan, who he described as an interesting individual.

“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,” he said.

The "Blue Bloods" star also formed a connection with McCarthy’s son that he didn’t get to have with his own children. The same goes for McCarthy, who became close with Wahlberg’s son.  

“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,” he remarked.  

McCarthy admitted her and Evan’s lives changed when Wahlberg came into their world. 

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“Before I met Donnie, it was really difficult … Being a single mom is so difficult and then a single mom with (a kid) with special needs adds another whole difficulty to the basket,” McCarthy told Page Six.   

When she recounted their engagement story on "The View," McCarthy revealed, while holding back tears, that Wahlberg included Evan in his proposal, and after she had said yes, her son exclaimed, "I have another dad!"

Wahlberg proved his love for Evan isn’t just all talk. In fact, he already shouldered Evan’s college tuition, which McCarthy revealed was Wahlberg’s Christmas gift.

“One Christmas, early on, Donnie handed me one of the greatest gifts ever, which was, I don’t even know how to explain it, but basically that he was taking care of Evan’s college tuition,” McCarthy said.  

Wahlberg even took to Instagram to congratulate his stepson when he celebrated his 20th birthday.

“Happy 20th Birthday to my awesome stepson @evanjasher! Hope you have the happiest day ever, Evan,” he wrote in an Instagram post.

McCarthy isn’t the only one who got lucky, though. Even Wahlberg said he couldn’t be more grateful to have found someone like McCarthy.

“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,” Wahlberg said.

While the idea of having more children was thrown around for a while, McCarthy said they no longer want to have a baby. She told Entertainment Tonight: 

"I'm like, 'Oh my god, I really, really kind of still’— I'm at that age where it's like really tick tock," McCarthy said.  "And we both said we enjoy each other's company so much, and we have three kids (from previous relationships)! So, we want to be able to give all our energy to them and still enjoy our golden years," she added.    

In the same interview, Wahlberg reiterated that they will no longer have babies and would focus on taking care of their puppies instead.

"We're trying to name our puppy," Wahlberg said. "We finally came up with DJ, which stands for Denny and Johnny, because it's kind of like our baby. We're not having any more babies,” he added.   

It appears Wahlberg has had an even bigger influence on Evan’s life as the youngster is now following in his stepdad’s footsteps. On Jan. 17, 2023, Evan took to social media to announce he was releasing a single called “It Doesn’t Matter” on Feb. 3, 2023.

“I promised you a big announcement and here it is! Check out the artwork for my first single “IT DOESN’T MATTER” coming out everywhere February 3rd. #singerslife #lovesong #recordingartist #family #anythingspossible,” the caption on his Instagram post read.

Both Wahlberg and McCarthy showed how thrilled they were in the comments, as his mother wrote: “You’re so amazing. So proud of you.” Wahlberg, meanwhile, wrote, “So exciting!”

It’s clear Evan will always have Wahlberg in his corner, a fact not lost on McCarthy, who told Us Weekly she would be eternally grateful for his “unconditional” support for them.

“There’s no words that actually even come close to the meaning that I feel. I’m most thankful for his unconditional love,” she said. “And not only for me though, to my son. Any single mom that knows our story can understand that because I think that’s one of our biggest concerns. Who’s going to love me with me and my child or children. Is there anyone out there, especially with special needs and the fact that this Romeo came along and not only swooped me off my feet, but my son and our combined families love each other. It’s I guess truly family and unconditional love that I’m just so grateful for.”    

What do you think about the way Donnie Wahlberg treats Jenny McCarthy’s son? Did you have a similarly loving step-parent, or is your partner one to your kids? Let us know your thoughts and pass this on to anyone who would love to read this story!