A 7.1- magnitude earthquake rocked Southern California overnight, leaving Angelenos, many still hungover from holiday festivities, a little dazed.
I’m feeling a tad shaky myself but for reasons that have less to do with tectonic instability and more to do with the fact I’m due to sit down with a flesh-and-blood force of nature: Mark Wahlberg.
It’s around 30˚ Celsius and morning haze has given way to a bluebird sky as I arrive at F45’s plush Sherman Oaks studio. It’s slightly cooler inside but the place is heating up quickly, with 30 sweaty bodies working through a series of high-intensity, bang-foryour- buck movements. The studio is a giant cube of white, with a two-storey ceiling and roof-to-floor windows facing out onto a fivelane thoroughfare.
Wahlberg arrives at 12:30 on the dot, coming straight from Mass. He’s wearing a white grandpa tee, baggy workout shorts and oversized Nikes. Everything is brand new, his shirt and sneakers crispy fresh. He stands at the entrance and surveys his domain with his celebrated entourage in tow. A huge diamond cross hangs on a gold chain around his neck, while a single Apple Air Pod is tucked in his ear and remains there right up until we begin our chat at a dimly-lit Mexican dive bar called Te’Kila, just across the road.
As we sit down at a back-corner table, Wahlberg tells his entourage to hang back to give us some privacy. He’s already done a workout in his home gym this morning, he tells me, although he’s disappointed he didn’t make it to an F45 class instead. “I spent two hours in that gym,” he says. “I’m kind of watching the TV, and I’m like, ‘Oh, well. Kawhi went to the Clippers, I thought he was gonna go to the Lakers’. Next thing, I’m like, ‘Holy shit. I’ve been in here for two hours’. If I’d have just gone to the 6am class I would have had the rest of the day. That’s another hour and 15 minutes.”
No big deal, you might think. But to a man who likes to maximise every spare moment, a lost 75 minutes matter. It’s enough time for him to call a business associate, nail a production deal or heck, maybe even cram in some golf before spending time with his four kids.
“I’m very precious with my time, which is why I’m so disciplined,” says Wahlberg, who’s surprisingly softly spoken. “I try to inspire people that there is enough time in the day to accomplish all of your goals and find that great balance.”
For the full article, pick up a copy of the September issue on sale Monday August 5
