In today’s obvious statements… Mark Wahlberg says he doesn’t want to work forever. Really, because most of us hope to die at 98 having put in approximately 75 years of getting up at six in the morning, sitting on our asses looking at TPS reports, then coming home to a Lean Cuisine before we fall back in bed and start it all over again. Wait, I don’t do any of those things… and neither do you Mark Wahlberg, so stop bitching! Okay he’s not bitching, my unethical self is just spinning it that way. He actually just wants to spend more time with his girlfriend and kids. Awwww! Marky Mark, you so sweet!

“Mark Wahlberg’s priorities are changing. The actor has had so much fun and success in Hollywood, they made a hit TV show about him, but the father of two, has decided to take it down a notch. ‘I’ve been really focused on me for quite sometime now,’ admitted Wahlberg, 36, who said girlfriend Rhea Durham, daughter Ella, 4, and son, Michael, 18 months, ‘are definitely the priority’ now.

“‘I figure I got a few more years to work really hard and then, you know, if I can make a movie every year and a half or something then that would be nice,’ he told reporters at the press day for his latest film, We Own the Night. ‘I don’t want to work forever.’ The realization came to Wahlberg – whose life HBO’s ‘Entourage’ is based on and which he also executive produces – on the heels of the highly successful movie ‘The Departed,’ which brought the actor his first Oscar nomination. ‘It was at a really tough time,’ Wahlberg said of starting work on We Own the Night. ‘I was about to have my second child. I had left shortly after my first child was born to work and that was a very difficult experience.’”

[From People]

Aw, that’s so sweet, why can’t all guys be like that? To consider having to spend time away from your girlfriend and new kids traumatic is indicative of really good character, in my opinion. Marky Mark (I’m always going to have to call him that) seems like a good guy, who’s made a lot of his life. Plus he’s managed to have a legitimate acting career, despite all those years he spent dropping his trousers for Calvin Klein. Not that I’m opposed to that, mind you. I think it’s funny when celebrities talk about how hard they work and how they need to take a break. I’m not saying their work isn’t challenging – I’ve never done it so I’m in no position to cast judgments. But I don’t think it’s equivalent to being a fisherman in the Bering Sea.

Picture Note by Jaybird: Here’s Mark at the Annual Michael Douglas & Friends Celebrity Golf Tournament on April 29th. Images thanks to PR Photos.