Mark Wahlberg, 42, received his high school diploma in June, nearly three decades after dropping out of school in ninth grade.
It gave the Hollywood A-lister great pleasure last night to appear at the Taco Bell Foundation for Teens event, where he felt honored to present scholarships to a group of Taco Bell employees as part of its pilot program.
The actor reflected on what getting his diploma will mean for his children. He told PEOPLE, “I didn’t want my kids saying, ‘You didn’t do it, so why do I need it?’ They will all want to do things in their future that require an education.”
His troubled childhood and an attempted murder charge led him to quit school at age 14. He admits that putting in the work now in order to earn the diploma was “a huge personal accomplishment and also a big sense of relief”
Mark readily admits that the math was the most challenging of the online courses. During the taping of ‘Two Guns,’ the actor had a tutor and he kept it quiet from his co-star Denzel Washington.
“Denzel was always asking me what I was doing but I didn’t want to share that information with him. Nobody knew, because I felt like I don’t like to count my chickens before they hatch, so I didn’t want to say that I was doing it until I actually finished it. What if I said I’m doing this and I didn’t finish it?”
Getting his diploma has spurred him on, “I would love to go to USC and study film. I don’t want to become a veterinarian or anything. I want to study things that further my career and broaden my horizon.”
Mark wed model Rhea Durham in 2009, after an eight year relationship. Their children are Ella, 10, Michael, 7, Brendan, 5, and Grace, 3.
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