'90s teen idols collide: New Kids on the Block's secret connection to the late Luke Perry
New Kids on the Block and the late "Beverly Hills, 90210" star Luke Perry were both teen idols in the '90s, and it turns out their paths did cross ... in a very unexpected way.
Following the New Kids' appearance on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Friday, Donnie Wahlberg told ABC Radio that a then-unknown Perry worked as production assistant on the New Kids video "Step By Step."
"During the shoot, every time we had a break, we would go shoot baskets outside of the stage, and Luke was a P.A.," Donnie recalls. "And about maybe eight months later, I went onto "Arsenio Hall" to premiere [my brother] Mark['s] record and Luke Perry was the other guest."
He laughs, "And my sister's going crazy, she's like, 'Ohmigod, Luke Perry Luke Perry!' I said, 'Who the hell is Luke Perry?' She's like, 'He's on '90210,' he's gorgeous, can I meet him?' So I brought her over to meet him and he said, 'I was a P.A. on your video for 'Step by Step!' I was shooting baskets with you guys!'"
"I was like, '"Ohmigod!' -- I thought I'd remember the sideburns," Donnie cracks. "But he was a really good guy and every time that I ever saw him since, he was exactly the same: very sweet, very generous and sort of surprised, I think, that he was, like, an idol. I don't think he thought that would ever happen.
"He was very down to earth, very grounded and very just present, in the present moment all the time," Donnie recalls.
Perry died March 4 at the age of 52, following a massive stroke.
