It's hard to believe that Macaulay Culkin turns 45 today and while most folks would be looking to celebrate alongside their family, he hasn't spoken with his father Kit for over 30 years.
The American actor, who recently revealed the answers to some of the burning questions we've had about Home Alone for the past 35 years, was once regarded as one of the brightest young stars in the business.
After starring in the beloved Christmas classics, Culkin went on to appear in several other films including Richie Rich, but decided to take a step back from acting in 1994 so he could focus on school, which later led to the emancipation from his father, Kit.
Having achieved fame at an early age, Macaulay was forced into a hectic work schedule which made him the top earner in his family, something he claims his father exploited.
Advert
Speaking on the Sibling Reverly podcast earlier this year, Culkin revealed exactly why he and his father became estranged, with his younger siblings also avoiding any contact with the 80-year-old.
He said: “I haven’t spoken to him in what would be about 30-something years. Oh, he deserves it, too. He’s a man who had seven kids, and he has four grandkids, and none of them want anything to do with him.
"As a man myself, I would know that I f****d up, I really must have done something wrong… I have more than an inkling that he does not feel that way. Like, we're wrong, and he's right — he's one of those kind of like narcissistic, crazy people."
His father had been an actor but never achieved the sort of fame Macaulay would have as a child, and certainly not the level of younger brother Kieran, who recently won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in A Real Pain.
Macaulay added: "Right off the bat, I instantly got the lead stuff in the ballet company, I instantly booked all these things, I think he resented me for that. I think he kind of hated me a little bit for that, so I think that’s why he was a little bit harsh with me.
"It's one of my earliest memories of him was [thinking], ‘When I grew up, this is how I'm not gonna be with my kids," he continued. "Now that I have kids of my own, it's like, you know, it kicks up some dust. I kinda go, you know, like, I can't believe he was like that. He had all these lovely kids. It's crazy."
Culkin, who now shares two children with his fiancee Brenda Song, previously described his father as 'physically and mentally abusive' on a podcast appearance in 2018, while in 2001 he told New York Magazine that his dad was 'always abusive, but it didn’t get really, really, really bad until later on'.
Meanwhile, Culkin has also explained his friendship with Michael Jackson, defending the King of Pop amid serious abuse allegations that were levied against him in the 2019 documentary film Leaving Neverland.
Topics: Celebrity News, Home Alone, Macaulay Culkin, Parenting, Celebrity, TV and Film
James Moorhouse