Donnie’s Sacred Circle

When the average person hears the phrase “Sacred Circle” it most likely conjures up images of meditation or tribal spiritual traditions. But in the BH World, it means something a little bit different than that when Donnie Wahlberg is on the scene.

“I did this thing in Toronto one night—I was shooting the Blue Bloods pilot. I was going out through the hotel lobby and it was packed. Jam-packed. Like a hundred fans.

And I came back and they were all there and I knew there were some couches around the corner, right past the elevator. And I said, ‘Alright, everyone. Look, you’re not gonna stare at me tonight. I’m not going to be in the fishbowl. Tonight you’re going in the fishbowl. Everyone come over to the couches.’

I sat in a chair at the head of the circle and said, ‘Everyone sit in a semi-circle. Sit down on the floor.’ They all sat down and there’s people on the couch with me and on another couch and on the floor in a huge circle. And I said, ‘This is the Sacred Circle. This is the first time it’s ever happened.’ I told them, ‘Starting with you, everyone in the circle is gonna look at you because you’re gonna tell us what your name is, what your story is, and you’re gonna tell us about you.’

And you know what started happening? Every single one of the fans—one of them was funny. One of them was touching. One of them was a little goofy, but sweet and sincere. One of them was super-sarcastic. One of them snuck out and didn’t tell her husband where she was going. Every one of them had a thing.

It was awesome. It was awesome. And the best part is I did six movie and TV projects in four years in Toronto and the same guy produced four of them. And he came walking into the hotel lobby (I wasn’t working with him this time—he was up there doing another movie) and he goes, ‘Donnie, what are you doing?’ And I said, ‘Dan, welcome to the Sacred Circle. It’s your turn, Dan. You have to introduce yourself and tell us about yourself.’ He said, ‘Okay, well, I’m Dan. I’m Donnie’s friend and we’ve worked together a lot. I think Donnie’s a great guy and I’m really happy you all are here to support him.’ Just so fun. So fun.

It was awesome. It was just a whim. I just didn’t want to do the same thing. I didn’t have the energy to be in the center ring of the circus that night. I wanted the fans to do it. I wanted them to see how it felt. And every one of them did it. It was fucking awesome. I was there until four in the morning. It was so much fun. I hugged every one of them goodnight.

I’ll never forget it. They’ll never forget it and neither will I. That’s what’s cool. It’s not just the fans. They have their little ‘never-forget moments’ and they may not all be the same as mine, but I got a whole bunch of them too. I got a whole bunch.”

–Donnie Wahlberg / NKOTB