Mark Wahlberg and Kate Moss: What Really Happened—and Did He Ever Apologize?

That 1992 Calvin Klein campaign with Mark Wahlberg and Kate Moss keeps popping back up online, and both of them would really rather it didn’t. Here’s the short version of what went down, what they’ve said since, and all the messy context around it.

The shoot, the images, the fallout

In 1992, Calvin Klein put Mark Wahlberg—then still Marky Mark of Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch—front and center for a new underwear push, pairing him with a then-teenage Kate Moss. Herb Ritts shot the campaign, including the topless images that became billboard-famous and culture-defining, for better or worse.

The pictures never went away. Fans still resurface them—there was even a tweet on November 10, 2025 from @FioCDMX fawning over the shots—while the two people in them have spent decades distancing themselves from the whole thing.

How Kate Moss remembers it

Moss has been blunt about how bad the experience was for her. In a 2012 Vanity Fair interview, she said the shoot triggered a full-on collapse when she was 17 or 18.

'I had a nervous breakdown when I was 17 or 18, when I had to go and work with Marky Mark and Herb Ritts... It didn’t feel like me at all. I couldn’t get out of bed for two weeks.'

She doubled down in 2022 on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, saying she felt completely objectified. Her read on Wahlberg at the time: very macho, rolling with a big entourage, and the whole vibe made her feel vulnerable and scared. In her words, they played on that vulnerability.

What Wahlberg says now

When The Guardian asked him in 2020 if he and Moss ever made up after she spoke out, he seemed surprised: 'I never really had a problem with Kate, did I?' Once told she found the shoot miserable, he chalked his behavior up to being young and rough around the edges, and said they’ve exchanged polite hellos since.

'I think I was probably a little rough around the edges. Kind of doing my thing. I wasn’t very ... worldly, let’s say that. But I’ve seen her and said hello... we said hi and exchanged pleasantries.'

He has also admitted he tries to forget those Marky Mark days. On Jonathan Ross’s show back in 2008, he said: 'I try to forget that too,' lumping the Calvin Klein stint in with the rest of his early-’90s persona.

For what it’s worth, that campaign helped pry open some Hollywood doors. His music pivot was already happening, but those billboards didn’t hurt when it came time to move into movies.

Zooming out: Wahlberg in the early ’90s

Context matters here. Before the rap fame, Wahlberg’s late-’80s record included multiple racially motivated attacks, charges that have followed him ever since. The Marky Mark era was his reinvention: shirtless often, swagger turned up to 11, and yes, one of his go-to stage bits was performing without pants. Subtlety was not the brand.

He also published a 1992 memoir, titled after his stage name. The dedication? Not subtle either: 'I wanna dedicate this book to my d**k.' He later regretted that choice. Inside, he even quoted Funky Bunch bandmate Hector Barros basically saying a lot of young female fans were more into how Mark looked than what he was rapping about (via Mental Floss). None of this clashed with the Calvin Klein image—they all fed the same machine.

And the other big regret

Years later, Wahlberg called out one of his most acclaimed films as a moral misstep. A devout Christian, he told a crowd at Chicago’s UIC Pavilion (via IndieWire) that he hopes God is a movie fan and forgiving, because he’s made some poor choices—adding that 'Boogie Nights' sits at the top of that list.

The timeline, at a glance

• 1992: Calvin Klein underwear campaign shot by Herb Ritts pairs Marky Mark and a topless teen Kate Moss; the images become iconic.
• 1992: Wahlberg publishes his 'Marky Mark' memoir with the infamous dedication; later regrets it.
• 2008: On The Jonathan Ross Show, Wahlberg says he tries to forget the Marky Mark/CK era.
• 2012: Moss tells Vanity Fair the CK shoot led to a nervous breakdown and two weeks where she couldn’t get out of bed.
• 2020: Asked by The Guardian about Moss’s comments, Wahlberg says he didn’t realize there was a problem and describes himself then as 'rough around the edges.'
• 2022: Moss tells BBC Radio 4 she felt objectified, vulnerable, and scared during the shoot, describing Wahlberg as very macho with a big entourage.
• 2025: Fans are still posting the photos; a November 10 tweet from @FioCDMX gushes over the campaign.

Where it stands

Wahlberg hasn’t issued a formal apology to Moss. Moss, for her part, hasn’t accused him of specific misconduct beyond detailing how the shoot made her feel and the dynamics around it. Three decades later, the pictures are still everywhere; the people in them would prefer the memory wasn’t.