Mark Wahlberg and Jimmy Butler have formed quite the budding bromance, and now they're talking about it.
The 44-year-old rapper-turned-actor and 26-year-old Chicago Bulls guard reflected on their unexpected and close friendship in a new interview with the Chicago Tribune. Turns out, the pair met when the Bulls invited the “Transformers: Age of Extinction” actor and his friends to play basketball at the Berto Center in 2013. Butler joined the game that day and went for a night out with Walhberg and his friends the following night.
Wahlberg wanted to hang out again, according to the interview, and eventually Butler took him up on his offer to reach out to him.
And as they say, the rest was history.
The actor invited the basketball player to his West Coast home, a visit where Wahlberg said his kids even fell head-over-heels for NBA star.
There’s an example of that in a text message Butler recently sent Wahlberg to share with the actor’s 6-year-old daughter, writing: “Please make sure my best friend knows I’m wishing her a happy birthday and I wish I was there with her.”
The buddies insisted their friendship is true to the core. They’ve learned life lessons from each other.
“He wants to be the best at what he does," Butler said. “He taught me you have to sacrifice – waking up early, eating right, going to church, doing what you’re supposed to be doing each day. He taught me if you do right in this world and you do right by people, the sky is the limit for you.”
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The actor is impressed with his friend's character.
"There are so many people that I've met who don't have Jimmy's attitude and approach to life and work, said Wahlberg. "And it's not something that you can kind of convince them to adopt. You either have it or you don't."
Wahlberg told the Chicago Tribune both him and Butler value loyalty.
“Athletes have so many people coming after them, said Wahlberg. “They have all their own motivation. And they all have their own agenda. For me, I don’t want anything or need anything from Jimmy. I just give him the truth the way I see it and share my experience with him. And I think he appreciates that.”
Butler likely appreciated Wahlberg’s shout-out on Twitter when he scored 40 points in the second-half breaking Michael Jordan’s franchise record in early January.
Wahlberg is already working on a social media campaign to get NBA fans to vote for Butler to suit up for the East Coast for next month’s All-Star game.
That’s what friends are for.
