Mark Wahlberg graduates from high school

BOSTON (AP) — Mark Wahlberg is now a high school graduate — 25 years after dropping out of a Boston high school.

The 42-year-old actor-producer finished his diploma requirements after taking classes online. He dropped out of Copley Square High School, now known as Snowden International School at Copley, in the 9th grade.

The Boston Globe reported Tuesday that Wahlberg wrote of the struggles he faced growing up surrounded by "drugs, violence and crime" in a column in The Huffington Post on Monday.

In the column he says he's been taking classes and studying while on movie sets, traveling and at home.

In June 2012, Wahlberg announced he was going back to school with the help of Snowden headmaster Kerry Torndorf who enrolled Wahlberg in his school's Accelerated Learning Academy.