Mark Wahlberg's daughter Ella's sugar high

While appearing on Late Night recently, Mark Wahlberg joked with Conan O’Brien that cake and sugar will no longer be allowed in he and Rhea Durham‘s home. The reason? A fiasco occurred with 4 ½-year-old daughter Ella Rae on Mark’s 37th birthday earlier this month.

It was my birthday, and I know why [Rhea] bought cake. Mommy’s pregnant, Mommy wants cake. [Ella wanted some.] There’s no reason we have to give my daughter cake before dinner!

However, because he is "wrapped around her finger," Mark gave her a small slice. Ella followed up her treat with a good dinner, and asked for one more piece before her nightly bath.

I was like, "You haven’t had your bath yet, there’s two hours left for you to go crazy." I cut the tiniest little sliver of cake. Five minutes later, she’s screaming, she’s got her [2-year-old] brother [Michael] in a headlock … so I said, "That’s it! No more [sugar]."

Mark and Rhea will welcome their third child, a boy, in September.

Source: Late Night with Conan O’Brien; Photo by GHOST/FAME.

Comments

I can just imagine Mark melting and giving in to Ella!

- tink1217 on June 27th, 2008

Ha! That is so funny. The exact reason we have cut sugar out of our kids’ diets. Although with us, our 4 year-old beats up our 7 year-old.

- Dana on June 27th, 2008

Too funny… and my husband and I would have done the same thing with any of our kids… as long as you have your good dinner, a little before and a little after (or a good sized piece after) isn’t a big deal.

In fact, when we do a birthday (like my husband’s) on a weekday, we always do cake first so that the sugar will be out of them by bedtime.

I think it’s nice they are being laid back and giving her some treats and special days while she’s young and doesn’t understand the need to eat her meal and then her cake, instead of the other way around.

- Kat on June 27th, 2008

I agree it’s a nice treat for a kid to have cake once in a while. Although I do not believe sugar actually makes kids more hyper. They did research on 20/20 and showed that kids generally just got excited because usually when they get sugar it is a special event like a birthday or christmas or they are around there friends. I found it interesting. Although I know some people swear sugar makes kids hyper.

- Liv on June 27th, 2008

Reading this blog about them reminds me that I taped that episode of Conan O’Brien. I love when Mark talks about his children

- Alicia on June 27th, 2008

He is so cute. But I just couldn’t spend my life with a man who only had cake on his birthday because his partner is pregnant. I guess that’s what it takes to look like that, but man… we’ve gotta have cake.

- shelly on June 28th, 2008