Redbook's interview with Mark Wahlberg

Here is an interview Mark did with Redbook:

In your new film Contraband, you play an ex-smuggler who re-enters a life of crime in order to save his family. Could you relate?
I like to do projects I feel some connection to. My character is forced into circumstances where he has to do the right thing for his family. For me, family always comes first; I would do anything to protect them. And even though I turned my life around, my friends and I are very much involved with the everyday hustles and struggles of the real world.

But you've come a long way from the Marky Mark days. You're now an award-winning actor and producer, devoted dad and husband.
[Laughs] I wasn't exactly the man I am today. Growing up, I think I was arrested 20-odd times by the Boston police. The good news is that I've been able to use those experiences in a lot of my roles, and that has been a blessing.

You have such a tough-guy reputation. What makes you go mushy?
I'm the father of two boys and two girls, so I'm more an emotional wreck than a mushball.

So becoming a dad has helped you get in touch with your feelings?
Let's put it this way, I watched The Help with my wife [Rhea], and I cried seven or eight times during the movie. And Rhea made fun of me.

Do you two have date night?
Of course! Every Thursday. We'll leave the house in the late afternoon and go to an early movie or just hang out somewhere. Then we'll go to dinner and catch up. But even when we go out, we like to get home to put the kids to bed.

What was the last great movie you saw with your kids that you loved?
Tangled. I was bawling my eyes out, because it's about a girl who gets taken away from her parents. Any movies where kids are taken from their parents just tear me up.

Do you play differently with your girls than you do with your boys?
My boys drive dirt bikes and wrestle with me. I don't let my girls out of the house!

Don't you want your girls to be tough too?
They are! They are very strong, smart, and independent. Having two daughters changed my perspective on a lot of things, and I definitely have a newfound respect for women. And I think I finally became a good and real man when I had a daughter. Women don't get the credit they deserve. I was at my daughter's ballet class and I was on the phone making a business call and watching her on the monitor, and I realized how hard it is to work and be there for your kids. As far as I'm concerned, there's no job more important on the planet than being a mom.