Donnie Wahlberg shared a touching tribute to his late mother, Alma Wahlberg, on Wednesday, four years after the matriarch passed away following a lengthy dementia battle.
The Blue Bloods star took to Instagram to share a photo of Alma watching her son perform onstage, with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes.
“Happy Heavenly Birthday, Alma Jean!” he wrote in the caption. “Today, I celebrate you with love in my heart and an overwhelming feeling of gratitude. No tears. Only love, admiration and complete faith that I will see you again. I love you, Mom! As always, your Baby Donnie. #happybirthday #heaven #mother.”
© InstagramDonnie also shared a video containing several clips of his mother, many of them taken from their reality show, Wahlburgers, with the caption, “Happy Heavenly Birthday Alma.”
Alma passed away in April 2021 at the age of 78, after living with dementia for several years. She was a proud mother to nine children, including Donnie, his brother Mark Wahlberg, and her late daughter, Debbie Wahlberg, who died in 2003.
Alma gained millions of fans thanks to her frequent appearances on Wahlburgers, and often shared how difficult it was to raise nine children as a single mother after she left their father, Donald Wahlberg, in 1982.
© FilmMagic“People know me as being the mother of famous children, and although this fact has brought many gifts into my life and has afforded me opportunities that may never have been possible otherwise, there is a whole lot more to my story than most people know,” she said in an interview with Boston’s WCVB-TV in 2018.
“I’ve lived with alcoholism and abuse; struggled with poverty and experienced great wealth; lost so many that I’ve loved; struggled to raise nine children, and I love them more than anything else; [watched] them suffer, learn and come out on the other side; lost myself; found myself, again and again; and kept moving forward, no matter what.“
She later told Today: “I didn’t know what I was doing…I was just doing what I felt like I had to do. I didn’t know what was the right or wrong thing sometimes because sometimes it got really crazy because there’s nine of them all doing different things.“
© WireImage“I invented the craziest meals,” she added, sharing that she relied on welfare butter and cheese. “English muffin pizzas, that was the big treat. I had no choice. I had to find them something to eat.” Upon Alma’s death in 2021, Donnie shared an emotional tribute to his mother, calling her an “amazing woman” who “shaped me into the man that I am“.
© Instagram“I’ve often said, if you like anything about me, I got it from Alma,” he wrote on social media. “I say that because it’s true. She was, without a doubt, the most loving human being I’ve ever known. I never heard her say or do anything disrespectful to anyone. She was, as anybody who ever came across her knows, true blue.“
Donnie’s wife, Jenny McCarthy, also shared a parting message to her mother-in-law via Instagram. “To my sweet Alma. I could not have asked for a better mother-in-law,” she said. “Always kind, always made me feel loved, and she will always be an inspiration to so many. Love you so much, Alma.“
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