Despite still being one of the most recognizable child stars of all time, Macaulay Culkin prefers to stay out of the spotlight these days. In a rare interview, Culkin opened up about his childhood acting in hit movies and how stories about him “divorcing” his parents were blown way out of proportion.
Macaulay Culkin became one of the world’s biggest child stars
Culkin began acting when he was just 4 years old, appearing onstage and in small parts in TV shows and movies. His big break came with 1989’s Uncle Buck, but it wasn’t until the following year, with the release of Home Alone, that Culkin became a household name. His role earned him a Golden Globe nomination and an American Comedy Award.
From there, Culkin starred in a series of movies, including My Girl, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, The Good Son, and Richie Rich. However, he soon tired of child stardom and decided to leave the industry for a while and have a normal life.
Macaulay Culkin addresses rumors about him emancipating himself from his parents
While he was a teenager, Culkin’s parents split up and his mother filed for custody. The custody battle went on for two years, but there was more at stake: Culkin’s trust fund. The fund was reportedly worth between $15 and $20 million.
Stories about the custody battle blew up. Many false reports were taken as fact, including the rumor that Culkin emancipated himself from both his parents as a teenager.
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“It’s always misconstrued, that I ‘emancipated’ myself from my parents,” Culkin told Esquire. “I legally took my parents’ names off of my trust fund and found an executor, someone who would look over my finances, just in case anyone wanted to stick their f***ing pinkie in the pie. But the next thing you know, the story was that I divorced my parents.”
Culkin explained that he simply thought he was taking care of the financial issues “cleanly” by removing both his parents’ names, but the rumors that he had “divorced” his parents ran rampant.
The actor says his father was ‘mentally and physically’ abusive
He also briefly mentioned his relationship with his father, Kit Culkin, simply saying that in the custody battle between his parents, he and his brothers “didn’t want to go with my father.” Culkin has spoken about his father before, most recently on an episode of the podcast WTF with Marc Maron.
Culkin’s father, an aspiring actor himself, was jealous of his son’s success because “everything he tried to do in life, I excelled at before I was 10 years old.” The actor also said his father was “mentally and physically” abusive.
Today, Culkin is a father himself. He has been in a relationship with fellow child star Brenda Song since 2018 and the couple welcomed a son, Dakota, in 2021. Culkin and Song reportedly got engaged in 2022, and recently welcomed a second child, Carson, in December of 2022.
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