Starting their on-screen relationship in 1995’s “The Basketball Diaries”, Mark Wahlberg recently revealed that his relationship with Leonardo DiCaprio wasn’t always so chummy.

“The Basketball Diaries” followed the story of a promising basketball player Jim, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, who becomes addicted to heroin. Mark, at that time, well known as the frontman of Marky Mark and The Funky Bunch was chosen to play Mickey, a role that DiCaprio didn’t think he was right for.

“He didn’t want me for the part, and I didn’t think he was right for the part,” Wahlberg said Tuesday at the annual LEAP Foundation conference, in front of a group of 500 high school and college students. “We both had to really learn how to respect each other, and we earned it.”

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The 47-year-old actor shared that the pair overcame their struggles and actually bonded on set, alluding to the themes that are a key focus of the LEAP Foundation: respect and earning one’s way to success.

Of course, the tiff didn’t hurt either actor’s career, with DiCaprio going on to star in “Titanic”, “The Great Gatsby”, and finally pick up an Oscar for his role in “The Revenant”. The pair reunited on screen in 2006’s “The Departed”, which also nabbed an Oscar, for Best Picture.

Over the course of his speech, Wahlberg shared his personal mantra with the students, telling them that he always aimed to work twice as hard as anyone else and never lost the hunger to keep going.

“It’s having that ‘marathon over a sprint’ attitude,” Mark shared. “If it was going to take 22 years, so be it.”

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“I’ve never been more driven than I am now,” he declared, and revealed one of his downfalls: his arrest at the age of 16 for assault, saying, “That was a wake-up call. I like my freedom.”

Wahlberg further discussed his personal motivation, pointing out a student’s sweater before answering his audience Q&A question.

“I like the ‘M,’ Miles. I always used to wear everything with an ‘M,'” he said as the crowd laughed. “People were always like, ‘Why are you wearing a Michigan hat?’ I would say, ‘It’s an ‘M,’ not for ‘Michigan,’ but it’s for ‘Mark.'”

Mark’s upcoming film, “Mile 22” will hit theatres August 17.