Mark Wahlberg insists his wife Rhea Durham mended his broken heart and made him believe in love again.

The 'Broken City' actor - who was jailed for assault after attacking a man when he was 16 - admits he has hurt a lot of women in the past after one of his first relationships left him broken-hearted, and only meeting Rhea Durham in 2001 made him release love didn't have to be painful.

 Mark - who has children Ella, nine, Michael, seven, Brendan, four, and Grace, three, with Rhea - said: ''I was a very nice guy early on. The first time I fell in love, and when I was in jail, she denied me, she didn't want to wait for me. I don't want to blame her now but my heart was broken and I decided, 'I'm never giving my heart to a girl anymore.' Everything, but not that. ''And I ended up hurting a lot of people along the way.

It was not until I met my wife and we had our daughter that I went, 'Oh my God, this is happening for a reason.' So now I have the utmost respect for women and teach my boys that. They shall not take the path that daddy took.'' Mark had been in trouble with police over 20 times in his teens and says it was only when he was sent to jail that he realised he wanted to change. Asked what made him change, he told Red Bulletin magazine: ''It's a process.

Hearing the sound of those jail house doors closing - that was one of those moments. For me it was like, 'Wow this is not where I want to be. This is not the direction I want to go in. I have to start to get my head in the right place.' ''