Macaulay Culkin regrets 'outstanding debt' to Catherine O'Hara after death of Home Alone co-star

Macaulay Culkin has opened up about his grief after the death of co-star Catherine O'Hara.

Earlier this year, the Beetlejuice actor died at the age of 71 following a brief illness, with her cause of death later being confirmed as a pulmonary embolism. Culkin, who played O'Hara's on-screen son during the Home Alone franchise, was one of many Hollywood stars leading tributes to her, writing: "Mama. I thought we had time.

"I wanted more. I wanted to sit in a chair next to you. I heard you, but I had so much more to say.

"I love you. I’ll see you later."

Culkin has now reflected on O'Hara's death once again in a new interview with Gentleman's Journal, revealing that he feels as though he was 'unfinished business' with the late actor.

O'Hara and Culkin in Home Alone (20th Century Fox)

While reflecting on O'Hara's attendance and speech at his Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in December 2023, Culkin said: "When Catherine passed away in January, that hit me.

"That hit me pretty good, ’cause, you know, it was just too soon. And I felt that we had unfinished business," he continued.

"I definitely feel like I had unfinished business with her, you know? I feel like I owed her a favour — and I don't like having an outstanding debt."

O'Hara previously spoke about how proud she was of Culkin during his induction onto the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

"Home Alone was, is and always will be a beloved global sensation," she said. "The reason families all over the world can't let a year go by without watching and loving Home Alone together is because of Macaulay Culkin.

Praising Culkin, who was just 10 when she first played Kevin McCallister, for his performancce, she added: "I know you worked really hard, I know you did, but you made acting look like the most natural thing in the world to do."

Culkin says he has an 'outstanding debt' to his on-screen mother (Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

O'Hara isn't the first of Culkin's Home Alone co-stars to pass away in recent years, with his fictional father John Heard passing dying from a heart attack in 2017, while actors who played smaller charctersm such as John Candy and Roberts Blossom have also since died.

The loss is something which Culkin says is just part of being a child actor, telling the outlet that he is the 'butt of the sphere'.

"I’m bringing up some of that old Hollywood guard kind of thing," he added. "I’m going to be one of the last people standing when it comes to that kind of stuff."