UPDATE: Wahlberg has apologized for his 9/11 comment, releasing a statement that says: "To speculate about such a situation is ridiculous to begin with, and to suggest I would have done anything differently than the passengers on that plane was irresponsible. I deeply apologize to the families of the victims that my answer came off as insensitive, it was certainly not my intention." 
 
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 PREVIOUSLY: Mark Wahlberg is one of today's biggest action movie stars, but as he sees it, his heroism doesn't end at a film's credits. Instead, he fancies himself a real badass off screen, too. 
 
 In a new interview with Men's Journal, Wahlberg says that world history would have been different had he not made a fortuitous decision to fly to Toronto a week early and thus avoid boarding one of the planes out of Boston that crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11th. 
 
 "If I was on that plane with my kids, it wouldn’t have went down like it did," he tells the magazine. "There would have been a lot of blood in that first-class cabin and then me saying, 'OK, we’re going to land somewhere safely, don’t worry.'" 
 
 Wahlberg has spoken before of the near-miss, and the action he would have taken had he been on the flight. 
 
 "We certainly would have tried to do something to fight," he said in 2006. "I've had probably over 50 dreams about it." 
 
 To his credit, Wahlberg is in impeccable shape. Part of what makes him stand out as an action star is his willingness to put himself on the line for a scene. 
 
 "[In 'Contraband'] I did all the stunts and then in 'The Fighter' obviously we did all the fighting and we fought and we made it real," he recently told GQ. "If it's necessary then we'll do it." 
 
 It worked out; "Contraband" won the box office with a $28.5 million take this past weekend. 
 
 Still, Wahlberg has a soft side. He recalls that he cried "about six or seven times" during "The Help," and, walked out of "Straw Dogs" because he did not like the rape scene. 
 
 Now a religious man, has markedly changed his sex life -- at least when it comes to his own personal intimacy. 
 
 "I don't get down with jerking off, dude. Look. I don't believe in everything that the church says. I try to do the right thing. I lead a clean and pure life. I'm a married guy. I have a beautiful wife. Sex is not the most important thing to me, being horny all the time, spanking the -- I mean, it's not against the law. You can do whatever you want. And it's not like, 'I shouldn't do it because of my faith. I'm just not really that into it that much anyway." 
 
 For more from Wahlberg, click over to Men's Journal. ||||| In our February issue, on sale now: Erik Hedegaard profiles two-time Oscar nominee Mark Wahlberg, Paul Solotaroff revisits the golden era of Gold’s Gym, and Kevin Gray celebrates the fast life and fiery death of Dan Wheldon, racing’s brightest star. 
 
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 From Erik Hedegaard’s Mark Wahlberg Handles His Business: 
 
 On settling down 
 
 “Yeah, a lot of people I thought were my friends were disappointed that I decided to settle down and don’t take them on whirlwind tours of craziness anymore. When I was the life of the party, I definitely wanted to bring as many people along for the ride as possible. But sooner or later, you find out who your friends are. If they were my friends, they would have been happy for me changing my life and growing up. I mean, because of Entourage, people think that my life is just a big, wild party. And it is. But these days it’s a big, wild Halloween party or Easter egg party. I don’t go out at night anymore. I don’t hang around with the guys. I don’t really play golf. I stopped smoking cigarettes. I stopped smoking pot a lot of years ago, too. I’m focused on my family, my faith, and my work.” 
 
 On being ok with movies his wife chooses for date night 
 
 “As long as it isn’t a Sarah Jessica Parker movie.” 
 
 On crying during movies 
 
 “The last time I really cried a lot? During The Help. I cried about six or seven times. It was the wife’s choice, but it was a great movie.” 
 
 On being scheduled to be on one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center 
 
 “If I was on that plane with my kids, it wouldn’t have went down like it did. There would have been a lot of blood in that first-class cabin and then me saying, ‘OK, we’re going to land somewhere safely, don’t worry.’” 
 
 On how he feels about his older daughter going on her first date 
 
 “I’m not going to think about that right now. When the time comes, I will, but it’s not a good thought for me to have. Thinking about it really stresses me out, so don’t stress me out right now, because that’s a stressful thought, OK?” 
 
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 Follow us on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter: @MensJournal and @MJGearGuy ||||| Widow of Flight 93 Hero: Wahlberg's 9/11 Comments Were VERY Disrespectful 
 
 Widow of Flight 93 Hero -- Wahlberg's 9/11 Comments Were ABSOLUTELY Disrespectful 
 
 's claim that he would've been able to single-handedly over-power theterrorists and prevent a plane from crashing is completely "disrespectful" ... so says the widow of one of the REAL heroic victims who RUSHED THE COCKPIT on that fateful day.TMZ spoke with-- whose husbandphoned her from that fateful flight saying, "I know we're going to die. There's three of us who are going to do something about it."Burnett-Bailey tells us, "Does Mark Wahlberg have a pilot's license? Then I think hindsight is 20/20 and it's insignificant to say what you would have done if you weren't there. "She adds, "The plan for Flight 93 was foiled by heroes. For him to speculate that his presence on board could have stopped everything is silly and disrespectful. Sounds like someone is grandstanding."We called Wahlberg for comment -- so far, no word back.
– Men's Journal has a profile of Mark Wahlberg in its February issue, and one quote in particular is generating some buzz: He says that if he were on one of the 9/11 planes that hit the World Trade Center, things would have been different: "If I was on that plane with my kids, it wouldn’t have went down like it did. There would have been a lot of blood in that first-class cabin and then me saying, 'OK, we’re going to land somewhere safely, don’t worry.'" TMZ ran the quote by the widow of Flight 93 victim Thomas Burnett, who isn't happy about what she sees as "grandstanding": "I think hindsight is 20/20 and it's insignificant to say what you would have done if you weren't there," says Deena Burnett-Bailey. (For the record, Wahlberg apparently wasn't talking about the Pennsylvania flight, but one of the two out of Boston that hit the WTC. He's given the matter a lot of thought because he had been scheduled to fly from Boston to LA that week but changed his plans late, notes the Huffington Post.) Update: Wahlberg offered a mea culpa via TMZ for his "irresponsible" comments: "I deeply apologize to the families of the victims that my answer came off as insensitive," he said. "It was certainly not my intention."