Mark Wahlberg, 54, is putting fans’ minds at ease one week after his 15-year-old daughter, Grace Wahlberg, revealed she’d been in an equestrian accident leading to a stint in the hospital.
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“She’s doing great,” he told Access Hollywood on Nov. 12. “It was terrifying, you know. It’s a very, very dangerous sport, but she’s so passionate about it… It’s very, very scary, and I thank everybody for their support and well wishes.”
While Wahlberg was worrying about his daughter’s injuries — which appeared to affect her left arm or shoulder, based on the sling she was wearing in the hospital photo — she was more concerned that her parents might make her give up competitive horseback riding.
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“[She was] just chomping at the bit and, you know, worried that we would deem the sport too dangerous, but she is so passionate [and] so dedicated,” he said, adding that “all she wanted to do is get back on that horse, no pun intended.”
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Wahlberg is blown away by his daughter’s commitment to the sport, and it doesn’t sound like he has any plans of making her quit. “For her to have the discipline of getting up at 4 a.m., going to the barn seven days a week, doing whatever she has to do to care for the horses and in her training and everything,” he said. “I kind of adopted that discipline when I became a parent, and for her to have it at such a young age [is amazing].”
Grace first announced that she needed to take a break from equestrian on Nov. 2, when she posted a photo of herself looking sad in the hospital. “No pressure, we will be back,” she wrote. Fans in the comments wished her a speedy recovery and encouraged her to heal and then get back on the horse.
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Grace’s mother and Wahlberg’s wife, Rhea Wahlberg, seemed rattled by the accident, but relieved it wasn’t worse. She shared a meme two days after the injury that said, “Sometimes I just look up, smile, and say, ‘I know that was you, thank you.'” In the caption, she wrote, “Things could always be worse. Remember that one.”
Grace was clearly yearning to get back at it a few days later as she posted a photo of her horse, Special. “Special couldn’t be anymore special,” she wrote. “Wishing I could be in the ring with him.”
Wahlberg and Rhea share three other children in addition to Grace: Ella, 22, Michael, 19, and Brendan, 17. Grace is the youngest of the family.