Actor Mark Wahlberg said he regrets his 2014 request for a pardon for an assault and battery conviction from the 1980s.
During a Q&A Tuesday for the Toronto Film Festival premiere of his film “Deepwater Horizon,” Wahlberg told TheWrap that his appeal to Massachusetts state officials to expunge the charges was ill-advised — but the process allowed him to meet with and apologize to one of his victims, Hoa Trinh.
“It was one of those things where it was just kind of presented to me, and if I could’ve done it over again I would never have focused on that or applied,” Wahlberg said of the pardon application, which was met with protests from an Asian American activist group when it was announced in 2014.
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“I didn’t need that, I spent 28 years righting the wrong. I didn’t need a piece of paper to acknowledge it. I was kind of pushed into doing it, I certainly didn’t need to or want to relive that stuff over again,” Wahlberg said of the 1988 incident, for which he served 45 days in prison.
Wahlberg, 16 at the time of the assault, was accused of beating Trinh so badly that the man lost sight in one of his eyes. The star said he was grateful to learn that those injuries were sustained a decade before.
“I was relieved to find out that the injuries to his eye had occurred in the early ’70s and not from the incident that happened that night,” Wahlberg said. “But I was able to meet with him and his wife and his daughter and apologize for those horrific acts. Some good did come out of it.”
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The upside to the still-pending application at the Massachusetts Board of Pardons, Wahlberg said, was that it allowed him to “apologize to him in person for what I had done.”
In his application, Wahlberg said his primary reason for seeking pardon was to pursue a concessionaire’s license in California for his restaurant business (the burger chain Wahlburgers), and also to work with law enforcement to help at-risk individuals.
“I have not engaged in philanthropic efforts in order to make people forget about my past. To the contrary, I want people to remember my past so that I can serve as an example of how lives can be turned around and how people can be redeemed, ” Wahlberg wrote in the 2014 request.
“Deepwater Horizon” premieres in Toronto this evening. Wahlberg will also be seen in December’s “Patriots Day.” Both films were directed by Peter Berg.
77 Eye-Popping Portraits From TheWrap's Toronto Film Festival Studio (Exclusive Photos)
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Actor Gael García Bernal, "Neruda"
Photographed by Geneviève Caron (FH Studio) for TheWrap at The Thompson Toronto
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Actors Gael García Bernal and Luis Gnecco, "Neruda"
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Actor Luis Gnecco, "Neruda"
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Director Pablo Larraín and actor Gael García Bernal, "Neruda"
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Actress Holly Hunter, "Strange Weather"
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Actor Rami Malek, "Buster's Mal Heart"
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Director Sarah Adina Smith and actor Rami Malek, "Buster's Mal Heart"
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Director Sarah Adina Smith, "Buster's Mal Heart"
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Director Ben Younger and actors Miles Teller and Aaron Eckhart, "Bleed for This"
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Actor Hisham Fageeh, "Barakah Meets Barakah"
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Actor Fatima Al Banawi, "Barakah Meets Barakah"
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Director Mahmoud Sabbagh and Actors Hisham Fageeh and Fatima Al Banawi, "Barakah Meets Barakah"
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Director Mahmoud Sabbagh, "Barakah Meets Barakah"
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Director Kenneth Lonergan, "Manchester by the Sea"
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Actress Angela Sarafyan, "The Promise"
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Actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, "The Promise"
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Actor Marwan Kenzari, "The Promise"
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Actor Jarkko Lahti and Director Juho Kuosmanen, "The Happiest Day in the Life of Ali Maki"
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Actress Sônia Braga, "Aquarius"
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Director Kleber Mendonça Filho and actress Sônia Braga, "Aquarius"
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Actor Ryan Gosling and director Damien Chazelle, "La La Land"
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Director Damien Chazelle, "La La Land"
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Actress Riley Keough, "American Honey"
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Actress Sasha Lane, "American Honey"
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Actors Raymond Coalson, Sasha Lane, Riley Keough and McCaul Lombardi "American Honey"
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Director Morgan Spurlock, "Rats"
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Director Morgan Spurlock and Producer "Rats"
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Producer Jeremy Chilnick, "Rats"
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Director Chan-Wook Park, "The Handmaiden"
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Director Adam Leon and actors Grace Van Patten, Michal Vondel and Callum Turner, "Tramps"
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Actress Grace Van Patten, "Tramps"
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Actor Callum Turner, "Tramps"
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Actor Michal Vondel, "Tramps"
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Director Adam Leon, "Tramps"
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Director Claude Barras, "My Life As A Zucchini"
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Director and actor Nick Cannon, "King of the Dancehall"
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Actress Natalie Portman, "Planetarium" and "Jackie"
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Actress Natalie Portman, "Planetarium" and "Jackie"
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Actress Lily-Rose Depp, "Planetarium"
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Actor Emmanuel Salinger, "Planetarium"
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Director Rebecca Zlotowski, "Planetarium"
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Director Rebecca Zlotowski with actors Natalie Portman, Emmanuel Salinger and Lily-Rose Depp, "Planetarium"
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Actors Kathryn Hahn, Gaby Hoffman, Jeffrey Tambor, Amy Landecker and Jay Duplass with creator Jill Soloway, "Transparent"
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Actor Jeffrey Tambor, "Transparent"
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Actress Gaby Hoffman, "Transparent"
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Actor Jay Duplass, "Transparent"
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Actress Amy Landecker, "Transparent"
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Actress Kathryn Hahn, "Transparent"
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Creator Jill Soloway, "Transparent"
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Actress Isabelle Huppert and director Mia Hansen-Løve, "Things to Come"
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Actress Isabelle Huppert, "Things to Come"
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Director-producer Fisher Stevens, "Before the Flood"
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Actor and director Ewan McGregor, "American Pastoral"
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Actor and director Ewan McGregor, "American Pastoral"
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Actor and director Ewan McGregor, "American Pastoral"
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Actor and director Ewan McGregor, "American Pastoral"
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Actress Jennifer Connelly, "American Pastoral"
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Actress Jennifer Connelly, "American Pastoral"
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Actress Jennifer Connelly, "American Pastoral"
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Actress Uzo Aduba, "American Pastoral"
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Actress Uzo Aduba, "American Pastoral"
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Actress Dakota Fanning, "American Pastoral"
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Actress Dakota Fanning, "American Pastoral"
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Actors Uzo Aduba, Jennifer Connelly, Dakota Fanning and Ewan McGregor, "American Pastoral"
Photographed by Geneviève Caron (FH Studio) for TheWrap at The Thompson Toronto
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Actors Uzo Aduba, Jennifer Connelly, Dakota Fanning and Ewan McGregor, "American Pastoral"
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Producers Tom Rosenberg and Gary Lucchesi, "American Pastoral"
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Actress Fan BingBing and Director Xiaogang Feng, "I Am Not Madame Bovary"
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Director Xiaogang Feng and actress Fan Bingbing, "I Am Not Madame Bovary"
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Actors Guo Tao, Dong Chengpeng, director Xiaogang Feng and actress Fan Bingbing, "I Am Not Madame Bovary"
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Director Oliver Stone, "Snowden"
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Director Oliver Stone, "Snowden"
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Director Oliver Stone, "Snowden"
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Actor David Oyelowo, "United Kingdom"
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Actor David Oyelowo, "United Kingdom"
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Director Amma Asante and actor David Oyelowo, "United Kingdom"
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Director Amma Asante, "United Kingdom"
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Director Amma Asante, "United Kingdom"
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