It certainly came as a shock to me when I learned that Mark Wahlberg owns more than ten pairs of Michael Jordan’s $300,000 shoes. However, after learning the story behind it, it actually makes sense because it's connected to the actor's family-owned restaurant, Wahlburgers, and an interesting collaboration they did with Jordan to celebrate the opening of a Wahlburgers in Minnesota's Mall of America.
It seems no one is a bigger fan of the Air Jordan 4 collaboration than Wahlberg himself. The shoe design is green and comes with an interchangeable Wahlburgers logo. Hard to resist, right? Plus, as the actor revealed to Drip, he got a handful of pairs in his size, so he had to keep them.
There’s only 23 pairs made for me. And 23 pairs made for MJ. God at one point I saw them on sale for upwards of $300,000. Everybody was mad at me because very few people got pairs. Ten of them were my size, so I was keeping those.
I wonder if by “everybody” he’s referring to his brothers? The actor owns the restaurant with Boston Blue’s Donnie Wahlberg and chef Paul Wahlberg, and while I assume they all got a pair of Jordans, I wonder if Mark got the most. While we may not know how they feel about him keeping so many of the shoes, his fans don’t blame him at all. Many in the comments are calling the Air Jordan 4s “the best shoes.” Perfectharmonyshow even assures him, “We’re not mad at you, Mark.”
So I don’t think anyone can blame him for not being able to resist those shoes. However, I’m sure I’m not the only one curious if he ever wears his shoes on his sets or as part of his 4 a.m. workouts. While I don’t know if he's worn them in his movies, the athletic shoes would have come in handy in his fun Christmas heist, Play Dirty. (The Shane Black film can be watched with an Amazon Prime subscription.)
Anyway, to add more lore to this history Wahlberg has with Jordan and his shoes, the actor revealed:
The other thing they don’t know is we made another Wahlburger shoe with Jordan before we did the 4s. ‘Cause the 4s are Michael’s favorite, it’s the hardest shoe to get made.
Along with this, Wahlberg revealed he was almost down to nine pairs after one of his sons attempted to sell a pair. The actor may want to keep a better eye on his shoes, which may be hard to do while he’s away filming.
He is currently getting ready to release the 2026 movie schedule's By Any Means, with Wonder Man’s Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. The Elegance Bratton film is set in 1960’s Mississippi, and finds a mafia hitman (Wahlberg) becoming an informant for an FBI agent (Abdul-Mateen) to investigate the murders of civil rights leaders. This movie will be quite the tonal departure for Wahlberg, who started the year with the more NSFW comedy, Balls Up.
Given the historical setting, we definitely won't be seeing any Air Jordans in By Any Means. But with ten pairs, surely Mark Wahlberg has one for when he travels, and I hope we can get a look at them during the press tour.
