Jenny McCarthy on the Key to Her 11-Year Marriage to Donnie Wahlberg (Exclusive)

Jenny McCarthy is getting real about marriage!

Speaking exclusively to PEOPLE at the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Monday, March 17, the actress, 52, opened up about the key to her 11-year marriage with husband Donnie Wahlberg.

“We continue to date each other, because I think we get really complacent and it can become a brother and sister relationship real quick, unless you do the work,” McCarthy tells PEOPLE. 

“And I just played this game with him called ‘Questions,’ ” she continues. “And it’s a thing that we put into our marriage, which is every once in a while we’ll play this game and we have to ask questions that we don’t know the answer to because you already know what you think are answers to everything after 10 years.”

McCarthy, who tied the knot with Wahlberg, 55, in 2014, adds of the game, “It allows us to actually do work and get introspective and get curious about each other.”

“And when you get curious about each other, it feels like you’re dating again. So we always make sure we play ‘Questions’ to keep that curiosity going in our relationship.”

The star also opened up about what it was like living with a musician, with Wahlberg being a founding member of the boy band New Kids on the Block.

“Donnie sings around the house all the time. Me, not so much because I’m a little embarrassed, I’m a little tone deaf,” McCarthy tells PEOPLE. “But being married to a musician is one of the greatest extra cherry on tops in a relationship because you get to go to his job and it’s a concert of the music you love and then you’re at home and he’s in the shower and he’s singing a song.”

She adds, “And I’m like, ‘Woo, this is awesome.’ I’m very lucky.”

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Speaking about her favorite New Kids on the Block song, McCarthy says, “Oh, the new one, ‘Come Back.’ If you haven’t heard it, listen to ‘Come Back’ on the new album.”

McCarthy and Wahlberg were all smiles as they attended the iHeartRadio Music Awards on Monday. Smiling on the red carpet, the pair linked arms and even shared a sweet smooch.

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While Wahlberg wore a baby blue suit, McCarthy was dressed in a gold chainmail cowl neck dress.

The couple first met during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in 2012, before reconnecting on The Jenny McCarthy Show in 2013.