Mark Wahlberg has returned to Australia to continue filming his latest movie.
The US actor, 52, was photographed touching down at Sydney airport on his private jet at the weekend, where he greeted fans outside the terminal and posed for selfies.
Wahlberg, who in 2017 was named Hollywood’s highest paid actor, has been travelling back and forth between the US and Australia, with his upcoming crime film Play Dirty shooting at locations across New South Wales over the next few months.
Play Dirty co-stars LaKeith Stanfield, Rosa Salazar and Dermot Mulroney.
It’s been reported Wahlberg has set up temporary residence at a $100 million waterfront mansion in Sydney’s Point Piper – Australia’s richest postcode.
The father-of-four’s arrival back in Sydney comes just days after he was sued by British football legend David Beckham over a fitness brand deal going sour.
Beckham’s firm, DB Ventures Ltd, claimed Wahlberg “duped” him into working with F45, The Sun reported.
Beckham, 48, agreed to be the firm’s global ambassador when he moved to LA, where he and Wahlberg became friends.
He is also suing the actor’s firm, Mark Wahlberg Investment Group (MWIG), and gym group F45’s founders Adam Gilchrist and Rob Deutsch – claiming he lost more than $16.4 million when stocks he was promised were withheld until after share prices plummeted.
Wahlberg and his co-defendants claim the allegations of “fraudulent conduct” are baseless and have asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit.
F45 was founded in Sydney’s Paddington where its first gym was opened by Adam Gilchrist (not the cricketer) and Deutsch in 2012, before expanding into the US in 2015.
In 2019, Wahlberg’s investment firm and another investor, FOD Capital, bought a minority stake in the business.