Why Jenny McCarthy Asked Donnie Wahlberg to Attend Therapy with Her Early in Their Relationship

Jenny McCarthy is a firm believer in the healing power of therapy.

While appearing virtually on The Drew Barrymore Show Tuesday, the 48-year-old The Masked Singer judge opened up to host Drew Barrymore about asking now-husband Donnie Wahlberg to attend therapy with her early on in their relationship.

Sharing that a spark was instant between herself and the Blue Bloods star, 51, McCarthy explained, however, "Even Prince Charming and the fairy tale doesn't come without work."

"I loved him so much as soon as I met him, I was like, 'How do I not mess this up?' I'm going to ask him, before we even have our first fight, if we can go to therapy together," she said. "He might think I'm crazy, but I want to be able to figure out some tools and discover how we both fight. Do both of us shut down if we're mad at each other, or does one need to communicate?"

"And by sitting down with a therapist, [we figured] out, 'Oh, that's what you do when you fight? This is what I do,'" she added. "And then the therapist gave us tools to say, 'Okay, when this happens, this is what you do.' And I'm telling you, it was one of the greatest ideas ever to go to therapy before there's a problem, to figure out how to have those conversations with each other."

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Last year, during a joint appearance on McCarthy's Sirius XM radio show in March 2020, the couple recounted another moment that happened early on in their relationship — the first time they ever said "I love you."

Looking back on their love story, which started when the former New Kids on the Block singer appeared on her VH1 show in 2013, the pair realized that the exchanging of their love happened before they even started dating.

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"Who said 'I love you' first?" the former Playboy model began the conversation, telling her husband, "Now, I was thinking that you did — which you did in theory — but I actually did, when I looked back and watched the Jenny McCarthy Show on VH1, and we did the groundbreaking interview, which I laid down with Donnie on a pillow and interviewed him, and re-watched it, and literally you guys, it's like the way we're talking right now."

"It was like we'd been married for six years, and I literally said to him, I go, 'I love you, Donnie Wahlberg.' But it wasn't like 'Oh, I love you, I'm a fan!' it was like, 'I love you Donnie Wahlberg,' it was crazy," she recalled.

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Later in the conversation, Wahlberg added that when he watched the interview back to see McCarthy say those three words, he "couldn't believe it."

The couple, who tied the knot in 2014, also recalled for their listeners the first time Wahlberg told McCarthy he was in love with her.

Wahlberg explained: "And then I told you, 'I love you.' It was after a concert, and I called you, and I told you, and we hung up, and I called you back and was like, 'I just told you I love you, didn't I?' and you were like, 'Yeah, but you were excited,' and I go 'I know, but I think I meant it. I'm pretty sure I meant it.' And you were like, 'You must 'cause you're loving yourself right now cause you just had a successful concert so you must've meant it.'"

"That's exactly right," McCarthy added at the time.