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.