Phillip Faraone/Getty Images
Mark Wahlberg’s Wife Rhea Durham ‘Misses’ Living in California After Family’s Move to Las Vegas
Mark Wahlberg is making a ton of money in Las Vegas since moving there from Los Angeles two years ago, but wife Rhea Durham is bored and pushing for a change of scenery.
“Rhea and Mark have been honest about their reasons for moving to Nevada,” a family friend of 53-year-old actor and his wife, 46, exclusively tells Closer. “They want to keep more of their money, and they want to grow their fortune by helping to make Las Vegas into a real film and TV production hub in the west. And, amazingly, it’s working.”
Mark revealed in the fall of 2022 that his family had left California for a new life in Sin City. “After this gubernatorial election, hopefully we go to legislation and get a bill passed so we can get tax credits for the state, build a state-of-the-art studio here and make this Hollywood 2.0,” he said on The Talk at the time.
“I want to be able to work from home,” he added, explaining that when he was living in California, he had “only made a couple of movies in the entire time” that he was there.
“So to be able to give my kids a better life and follow and pursue their dreams — whether it be my daughter as an equestrian, my son as a basketball player, my younger son as a golfer — this made a lot more sense for us,” he continued.
He and his wife looked at the move as a chance to “give ourselves a new look, a fresh start for the kids,” adding, “I’m really excited about the future.”
Mark and Rhea, who married in August 2009, share daughters Ella, 21, and Grace, 14, as well as sons Michael, 18, and Brendan, 16.
Now that their family has been in Nevada for more than two years, “Mark is getting films made, and of course, they are paying lower taxes,” the Closer source explains. “They’re getting rich, but Rhea’s the one telling herself this is a temporary thing, and she absolutely misses the Southern California lifestyle.”
It doesn’t seem to be a forever living situation for the family of six, though. “They will be back, eventually, when Mark is satisfied that he’s made a real difference and that their family has reached a new, higher level of financial security,” the source says. “That’s going to take a few years.”
In the meantime, the insider reveals, Rhea and Mark have been “flying their friends out to experience the Las Vegas lifestyle up close.”
“They’re convincing people they haven’t made the mistake of their lives,” adds the source. “Mark is still the biggest cheerleader Las Vegas has, but they had a whole community back in L.A. and in Beverly Hills in particular that misses them and is waiting for them to come back. Really, it’s only a matter of time!”
Earlier this year, Mark told People that his children have settled in nicely. “It’s a place where my kids can thrive and do their thing and pursue their interests,” he told the publication.
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. Closer Weekly does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.
