Featured Image Credit: 20th Century Studios
Topics: Entertainment, Film, Home Alone, TV and Film, Christmas, Home
Brenna Cooper
Topics: Entertainment, Film, Home Alone, TV and Film, Christmas, Home
The real-life owner of the iconic Home Alone house has revealed his one regret about allowing his home to be featured in the iconic Christmas movie.
The images of the quintessentially American mansion dusted in snow and covered in twinkling lights have made 671 Lincoln Avenue one of the most recognisable houses in cinema history.
Located in the affluent neighbourhood of Winnetka, Illinois, the legendary gaff is the home of Macaulay Culkin's Kevin McCallister and his large family.
However - as the owner of the Breaking Bad house in Albuquerque, New Mexico, will tell you - living in a house made internationally popular in a film or TV series has some pretty major drawbacks.
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In fact, John Abendshien even had regrets over allowing his house to be used in the Home Alone franchise.
Speaking to Fox News following the release of his memoir, Home But Alone No More, Abendshien explained that people were coming from all over the world to see the house, leading to a major loss of privacy for his family.
"As you can imagine I had a sense of loss of privacy," he said.
"Just something as simple as hauling the garbage out to the kerb... it was like being in a British tabloid with the paparazzi."
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Abendshien went on to say that he went through a period of being frustrated with the constant attention, adding: "It went from a tinge of excitement during the filming to 'dear God make it stop' after the onslaught of visitors."
This is one of the main themes of his book, in which he writes (via Chicago Sun Times): "Suddenly, your peaceful suburban retreat is crawling with tourists, their eyes agog with a mix of awe and entitlement as they stare down your front door, the threshold to what was supposed to be your private sanctuary."
However, he would ultimately decide to embrace the chaos and began conversing with visitors, asking them what made Home Alone so special to them.
Abendshien and his family would go on to live in the home for over 20 years after the film was released before moving on.
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671 Lincoln Avenue found itself back on the market last year for $5,250,000 (around £4 million), which again makes you wonder what on earth Peter McCallister was doing for a living in order to afford such a lavish house.
The listing allowed fans an updated look inside the property, which revealed that it had been remodelled to fit the modern tastes of Millennial neutral tones.