By Aya Tsintziras
In 2022, fans found out that Mark Wahlberg's daughter Ella Rae Wahlberg was in a relationship with James Stuart, and this romance is very mysterious.
Besides being an action star famous for movies like The Fighter and Four Brothers, Mark Wahlberg is all about his family life. That and making an absolutely colossal net worth. He has four children, including Ella Rae Wahlberg. She is now 19 years old and started going to college at the beginning of 2023. This marked a huge change for the actor's household as he and his wife Rhea Durham had to adjust to his daughter being out of the house. Mark Wahlberg's highest-grossing movies have allowed him to give his kids everything that they want. When the actor gives interviews about his family, he sounds incredibly proud of them and they seem very tight-knit.
In 2022, fans learned of Ella Rae Wahlberg's romance with James Stuart. Are they still dating? And what details should fans know about this love story?
Are Ella Rae Wahlberg And James Stuart Still Dating?
Mark Wahlberg seems close with his children. And he talks about them a lot. Wahlberg and his wife Rhea Durham have two sons named Brendan and Michael and two daughters named Grace and Ella Rae. Since he talked about Ella Rae Wahlberg's relationship, she has been in the news a bit more than his other children. But he definitely loves them all. Wahlberg shared that his children didn't love his movie Stu, which was funny to hear about.
In 2022, Mark Wahlberg posted about Ella Rae Wahlberg's relationship with James Stuart on Instagram.
According to The Sun, Mark was very supportive of the relationship. When they had been dating for a year, he shared a photo of the couple and wrote, "Happy 1 year anniversary Ella and James." The actor continued, "I'm so happy for you guys! I couldn't be more proud of you Ella!! I love you guys."
RELATED: Mark Wahlberg's Relationship With His Wife Started With A Church Date: Here's How It's Evolved Into Something Unbreakable
Are Ella Rae Wahlberg and James Stuart still together in 2023? As of this writing, it's hard to know the answer. It doesn't seem that Mark has said anything more about the relationship on his social media. And while Ella Rae has an Instagram account of her own, she seems to post mostly about traveling.
Ella Rae and James might still be together, but Ella might not want to talk about it because she doesn't want to hear the opinions of strangers. That would make sense since online comments can be brutal.
As of January 2023, Ella is a college student at Clemson in South Carolina. According to People, in August 2022 Mark was interviewed on Live! With Kelly and Ryan and he talked about his daughter taking this next step.
Mark said, "My 18-year-old, now I literally have no authority over her until she realizes she needs me financially. She's doing tattoos and all this stuff but she's now really focused on academics, which is great. It took her a while to get there. She's going to graduate mid-year and then we're going on tour. She's picking the most random places — San Diego State, Clemson — so we're going to go to all these places."
Since Ella Rae Wahlberg is going to college, she must have a lot going on. If she is still dating James Stuart, she might not feel like posing about it publicly. It's not clear how the two met, but perhaps they began dating after meeting at school or through friends.
If the couple did break up, then Mark Wahlberg might feel that it isn't his place to talk about it. He might not want to upset his daughter or make the heartbreak worse.
What Does Mark Wahlberg Think Of His Daughter's Boyfriend, James Stuart?
While Ella Rae Wahlberg is the daughter of a celebrity, she has always kept to herself. And while people reported on her new relationship with James Stuart, she didn't talk about their romance.
RELATED: Mark Wahlberg Shows Off Slim Figure After Sharing Extreme Diet And Fasting Schedule
At the very least, fans can guess that Ella Rae Wahlberg and James Stuart had a good relationship because Mark Wahlberg really likes him. According to People, Mark posted that he and James were exercising together on Instagram.
Mark said, “I used to work out to keep the boys away from my girls, and now I’m working out with the boyfriend. Imagine that."
While there's a lot of interest in who James Stuart is, he seems to have even less of a social media presence than Ella Rae does. The only articles about him are the ones that mention him exercising with Mark Wahlberg.
RELATED: Mark Wahlberg Left Hollywood For His Career, But Fans Think He's Done Acting For Good
While Mark Wahlberg and Ella Rae Wahlberg haven't said anything about her relationship status in 2023, he has talked about bringing Ella up.
Previously, Mark Wahlberg was a strict parent. It's nice to know that he was a fan of Ella Rae's boyfriend because otherwise, that could make things awkward.
According to Us Weekly, the actor said in 2018 that he expected his daughter to use dating apps like Tinder at some point. He said that he and his wife wanted to give her advice about being with a kind person. He said, “It is what it is. As long as we can give her the kind of tools to know she should be treated with the utmost respect, kindest and love and find a good boy, then there you go.”
Wahlberg also said of Ella Rae, who was in grade 9 at the time, “We’re keeping the reigns pretty tight on her. If she has to stay in her room and be punished for a month, she’s OK as long as she has her phone.”
Several years ago, when Ella Rae was 13, Mark Wahlberg shared that she had a boyfriend. According to Yahoo! he said of her boyfriend at the time, "He's just a very nice, young, smart boy who is very polite and well prepared,” He also called himself "super overprotective."
Now that Ella Rae Wahlberg is 19, however, Mark Wahlberg seems to have gotten more comfortable with his daughter being in a relationship. And whether Ella Rae is still dating James Stuart or not, fans hope that she is having an amazing time and relishing college life.
