Mark Wahlberg’s Holiday Houdini: How Covid Cut His Christmas Trip Short
For the 50‑year‑old star, the most anticipated part of the holidays – a family getaway to the mountains – ended up being a very different kind of trip. The actor, who is happily married to Rhea Durham and father to four energetic teens (Ella, 18; Michael, 15; Brendan, 13; and Grace, 12), found himself glued to the basement floor while COVID did its thing.
“Where’s the Santa? Where are the gifts?”
On The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Wahlberg lamented, “We always go on holiday at Christmas and I’m down in the basement a couple of days before Christmas, I don’t get to open any gifts with anyone or anything and next thing you know, they’re still going on holiday.”
Guests Took The Long View
Right before the big departure, the family wanted a proper goodbye:
- “I heard the car getting ready to go, the doors shutting, and I was like, ‘Are you not going to come to the stairs and say goodbye?’”
- The kids and their parents staged a little “stay‑away” ceremony – face‑to‑face distance was officially 36 feet, not 6.
- Mark remembered the bittersweet moment of waving from the front of the house as the truck rolled out.
Long‑Term 100‑Meter Distance and a Final Reunion
Once Mark tested negative, he finally got a seat on the family’s car. But the reunion brought its own set of awkward jokes:
- “They’re like, ‘What are you doing here? Are you sure he’s okay?’”
- “I still had a little bit of a cough…they didn’t want me there.”
- Wahlberg sighed, “I understand, because the last holiday we had, my wife got COVID the first day we arrived, then my youngest son and daughter got it too. We had to leave to go to New York – it felt like a little karma payback.”
What This Means for the Family
So this Christmas, Mark Wahlberg’s heroes were learning that even the best family plans can get tossed out of the window by an invisible pandemic. They found that while the joy of reunion remains, a layer of caution and comedic timing (think “twelve feet of easy breathing” drama) is a constant companion in holiday cheer.
