The Tragic Real-Life Story of Macaulay Culkin

[Music] For over 30 years, Home Alone has been a Christmas classic for Americans. Macaulay Culkin, who plays the role of Kevin, has entertained generations of families, always keeping the Christmas spirit alive. However, despite the massive success at such a young age, Macaulay never wanted this life. Being an actor was his father's dream that he forced upon his seven children. Macaulay just ended up being the most successful. Before age 13, he was fed up and wanted away from the spotlight. This was the catalyst that led to one of the most tragic downfalls Hollywood has seen in regards to child stars: drugs, arrests, public ridicule, a strange relationship with Michael Jackson. This is the story of Macaulay Culkin, the life he never wanted. Macaulay's parents, Kate and Patricia, had seven children: Shane, Dakota, Macaulay, Kieran, Quinn, Christian, and Rory. The Culkins had a rough upbringing, to say the least. They lived in a railroad apartment in a tenement on East 94th Street and 2nd Avenue in New York City. The home was barely suitable for a couple. It was just a hallway with no separating doors except for the bathroom, which didn't even have a lock. It was not an ideal environment for children, but they kept having more babies. Macaulay, who also goes by Mac, began acting at age four, appearing in roles on stage, on television, and in films throughout the 80s. He landed some pretty big hits like Rocket Gibraltar and Uncle Buck, but Mac didn't exactly land those roles because of an inherent passion for acting. His father's dream was for his children to star in films because he was a dancer/actor whose career was cut short. The peak of Kit Culkin's career was being an extra on the Broadway play West Side Story in 1961 and another small role in Hamlet in 1964. He had never experienced any sort of true fame or main character spotlight that he so longed for. His career was cut short over a small incident that he could not get past. So, doing King Lear off off-Broadway, right? He's playing way off Broadway. He's playing Gloucester, and Gloucester gets his eyes poked out. Yeah, so he is so into his part he closes his eyes, and so we do this locally, anything closer and closer to the edge of the stage. Yeah, and you know he doesn't notice because he's so into the part because he's blind, and then he spills into the first row. Yeah, and hurts himself. This is opening night. Yeah, and injures himself and can't do the rest of the run of the whole show. And apparently that was like the last acting every day because it was quite embarrassing. Since Kit could not deal with the shame and embarrassment, he pushed his dream onto his children, starting with his firstborn son Shane. Shane was supposed to be the actor/dancer that his father never was, so they just kind of brought Macaulay along with them to ballet classes, theater, and movie auditions. Mac says that he was an afterthought. His brother Kieran also felt the same way. My parents were running a little theater, The Light Opera of Manhattan, and whenever a production needed a kid, they were like, "What age and what gender? We've got seven of them right over here." Kieran felt that they were often used as onstage props, but to his father's surprise, Macaulay was a superior dancer, and producers were much more interested in him than Shane. He was daring, and if you can say a six-year-old is daring, he just wasn't afraid to do anything. I mean, he'd do whatever you asked and more, which led him to getting booked for almost every role he auditioned for. Once he landed Uncle Buck, which generated 67 million dollars at the box office, the family's finances began to rely on what Mac was earning. Although Kit didn't see what everyone else saw in Macaulay, he knew Mac was his ticket to Hollywood, leading them to a role that was about to change their family's life forever. After a hectic start to a family trip to Europe, writer and producer John Hughes conceptualized the idea of Home Alone. While preparing for vacation, he wrote down a list of everything he didn't want to forget and jokingly added his children to that list. At that moment, he thought, "What if I left my 10-year-old son at home? What would he do?" One "what if" led to another, and while taking a break from packing, Hughes wrote eight pages of notes that later developed into the screenplay of Home Alone. Since he previously worked on Uncle Buck with Macaulay, Hughes wrote the Home Alone script specifically for him to play the role as Kevin McAllister. Macaulay's blockbuster film Home Alone was released in November 1990 and became the third highest-grossing film of all time worldwide, behind E.T. and the Star Wars films. It earned nearly 500 million dollars in worldwide box office. Its huge success even gave rise to a Hollywood phrase: to be home alone meant having your own movie's box office dwarfed by another wildly popular film. Macaulay basically became an A-list celebrity overnight. I mean, this is it, pal. You are a bona fide star as of right now, the number one box office movie of the weekend. Nice to have you on the show. In that first interview, it kind of seems like he isn't really phased about the success of the film, and although he could be nervous, he probably didn't care because this was all just a basic routine for him. Did you have any say in whether or not you worked when you were young? Uh, not really. No, no. Look, it was after a while, it became like, I said, a job, and it was, I like, I never chose the projects. They were like my parents, like, you know, essentially like chose them for me. Yeah, exactly. You know, yeah, yeah. There you go. You know, and like I never read any of the scripts. Like, I would just read like the lines for like the next day or whatever. Like, I would like get the gist of what the movie was about, but then I just kind of show up and hit my marks, find my light, you know, uh, you know, and recite my lines. So surreal. It's kind of just like, again, like it's what you do, right? Like it's like in the same way that like, yeah, like kids go to like school or something like that. Like, you know, you fall into a routine to a certain extent. No choice in whether or not he was allowed to act, no choice in what roles he could play, barely was even prompted about his roles. Macaulay was essentially just being told what to do and moving like a robot. This is where the tension between Macaulay and his father worsened. The Culkin family was not yet rich. Mac was only paid one hundred thousand dollars for Home Alone, so his father knew he needed to capitalize on the momentum for them to make some huge money. He immediately negotiated his next film, My Girl, in which Macaulay got paid 1.5 million dollars. At the time, child labor laws allowed the child to work for 10 hours per day, but a parent or legal guardian needed to supervise them for the entire time. This essentially takes Kit out of the workforce, giving him no choice but to take a cut of Mac's income. Plus, they had to travel outside of New York for films. Macaulay says that although he spent a lot of time with his father, they were never close. You disliked him all through it? Yeah. And he just liked me too. Like, we didn't like each other, really. Yeah, but then all of a sudden, imagine this now, this man, uh, who you dislike kind of thing, and he dislikes you, uh, now I become the sole, like, uh, focus of him. I'm gonna start earning. So now all of a sudden, I'm like, you know, going around the country, like locked in a room with a guy who doesn't like me kind of thing. But at the same time, okay. How does that, what, how was kind of even like relatively jealous? You know, well, sure. Oh, he was jealous, I think so. I, I, everything that he tried to do in his life, like, I excelled that like before, before I was 10 years old. He was a bad man. Like, honestly, he was a bad man. He was abusive, and look at like physically and mentally. Yeah. As if it couldn't get any worse, he also had to deal with the repercussions of fame. There would be times when Macaulay walked down the street only to be crowded by hordes of people. One time I wore a ski mask. She goes, I w

never wanted this life being an actor was his father's dream that he forced upon his seven children Macaulay just ended up being the most successful before age 13 he was fed up and wanted away from the spotlight this was the

Catalyst that led to one of the most tragic downfalls Hollywood has seen in regards to child stars drugs arrests public ridicule a strange relationship with Michael Jackson this is the story of Macaulay Culkin the life he never wanted macaulay's parents Kate and

Patricia had seven children Shane Dakota Macaulay Kieran Quinn Christian and Rory the culkins had a rough upbringing to say the least they lived in a railroad apartment in a tenement on East 94th Street and 2nd Avenue in New York City

the home was barely suitable for a couple it was just a hallway with no separating doors except for the bathroom which didn't even have a lock it was not an ideal environment for children but they kept having more babies Macaulay

who also goes by Mac began acting at age four appearing in roles on stage on television and in films throughout the 80s he landed some pretty big hits like Rocket Gibraltar and Uncle Buck but Mack didn't exactly land those roles because

of an inherent passion for acting his father's dream was for his children to star in films because he was a dancer slash actor whose career was cut short the peak of Kit Culkin's career was being an extra on the Broadway play West

Side Story in 1961 and another small role in Hamlet in 1964. he had never experienced any sort of true fame or main character Spotlight that he so longed for his career was cut short over a small incident that he could not get

past so doing King Lear off off Broadway right he's playing Way Off Broadway he's playing Gloucester and Gloucester gets his eyes poked out yeah so he is so into his part he closes his eyes and so we do this locally anything

closer and closer to the edge of the stage yeah and you know he doesn't notice because he's so into the part because he's blind and then he spills into the first row yeah and hurts himself this is opening night yeah and

injures himself and can't do the rest of the run of the whole the whole show and apparently that was like the last acting every day because it was quite embarrassing since kit could not deal with the shame and embarrassment he

pushed his dream onto his children starting with his firstborn son Shane Shane was supposed to be the actor dancer that his father never was so they just kind of brought McCauley along with them to ballet classes theater and movie

auditions Max says that he was in afterthought his brother Kieran also felt the same way my parents were running a little theater The Light Opera of Manhattan and whenever a production needed a kid they were like what age and

what gender we've got seven of them right over here Karen felt that they were often used as onstage props but to his father's surprise Macaulay was a superior dancer and producers were much more interested did in him than Shane he

was daring and if if you can say a six-year-old is daring he just wasn't afraid to do anything I mean he'd do whatever you asked and more which led him to getting booked for almost every role he auditioned for once he landed

Uncle Buck which generated 67 million dollars in the box office the family's finances began to rely on what Mack was earning although kit didn't see what everyone else saw in Macaulay he knew Mack was his ticket to Hollywood leading

them to a role that was about to change their family's life forever after a hectic start to a family trip to Europe writer and producer John Hughes conceptualized the idea of home alone while preparing for vacation he wrote

down a list of everything he didn't want to forget and jokingly added his children to that list at that moment he thought what if I left my 10 year old son at home what would he do one what if

led to another and while taking a break from packing Hughes wrote Eight Pages of notes that later developed into the screenplay of home alone since he previously worked on Uncle Buck with Macaulay Hughes wrote The Home Alone script specifically for him to play the

role as Kev in McAllister macaulay's Blockbuster film Home Alone was released in November 1990 and became the third highest grossing film of all time worldwide behind E.T and the Star Wars films it earned nearly 500 million dollars in worldwide box office its huge

success even gave rise to a Hollywood phrase to be home alone meant having your own movies box office dwarfed by another wildly popular film Macaulay basically became an A-list celebrity overnight I mean this is it pal you are

a Bonafide Star as of right now the number one box office movie of the weekend nice to have you on the show in that first interview it kind of seems like he isn't really phased about the success of the film and although he

could be nervous he probably didn't care because this was all just a basic routine for him did you have any say in whether or not you worked when you were young uh not really no no look it was

after a while it became like I said a job and it was I like I never chose the projects they were like my parents like you know essentially like chose them for me yeah exactly you know yeah yeah

there you go you know and like I never read any of the scripts like I would I would just read like the lines for like the next day or whatever like I would like get the gist of what the movie was

about but then I just kind of show up and hit my marks find my light you know uh you know and recite my lines so surreal it's kind of just like again like it's what you do right like it's

like in the same way that like yeah like kids go to like school or something like that like you know you you fall into a routine to a certain extent no choice in whether or not he was allowed to act no

choice in what roles he could play barely was even prompted about his roles Macaulay was essentially just being told what to do and moving like a robot this is where the tension between Macaulay and his father worsened the Culkin

family was not yet Rich Mack was only paid one hundred thousand dollars for home alone so his father knew he needed to capitalize on the momentum for them to make some huge money he immediately negotiated his next film my girl in

which Macaulay got paid 1.5 million dollars at the time child labor laws allowed the child to work for 10 hours per day but a parent or legal guardian needed to supervise them for the entire time this essentially takes kit out of

the workforce giving him no choice but to take a cut of max income plus they had to travel outside of New York for films Macaulay says that although he spent a lot of time with his father they were never close you you disliked him

all through it yeah and he just liked me too like we didn't like each other really yeah but then all of a sudden imagine this now this man uh who you dislike kind of thing and he dislikes you uh now I become the soul like uh

focus of him I'm gonna start earning so now all of a sudden I'm like you know going around the country like locked in a room with a guy who doesn't like me kind of thing but at the same time okay

it's how does that what how was kind of even like relatively jealous you know well sure oh he was jealous I think so I I everything that he tried to do in his life like I excelled that like before

before I was 10 years old he was a bad man like honestly he was a bad man he was abusive and look at like physically and mentally yeah as if it couldn't get any worse he also had to deal with the

repercussions of Fame there would be times when Macaulay walked down the street only to be crowded by hordes of people one time I wore a ski mask she goes I was walking down the street you know the sky goes yo I heard him just

whispering I'm like we're in a ski mask boy you know I better get my plans I better get a facelift or something you know one time Mac pulled a hat low over his forehead an attempt to look Anonymous a

woman walked up grabbed the cap off his head peered at him and said yeah it's him and then you're not that cute Matt couldn't hide from the world everyone thought he should be so happy because of this success but none of his siblings

could truly understand what he felt but there was one person that could relate to Macaulay and that man was Michael Jackson like kit Culkin Michael's father Joe Jackson initiated a plan to get his family out of poverty and into super

stardom Joe trained his children to dance and sing if they made a mistake during rehearsals he would beat them with the Buckle end of a belt an electrical cord or a tree branch more specifically their father targeted Michael maliciously teasing his

appearance and breaking down his self-confidence Macaulay and Michael lived a childhood where their fathers despised them despite needing them to provide for their family financial Michael was quite literally the only person Mac could relate to but there was

one obviously weird thing about this relationship Michael was 33 years old and Macaulay was 10. over the years Michael had befriended multiple children inviting them and their families to his Infamous Neverland Ranch a full-blown amusement park at his estate he hung out

with these children and occasionally had sleepovers Culkin's parents were fine with the Friendship Macaulay and Kieran visited Neverland Ranch often McCauley even says that he slept in Michael's bed about 10 times what happened at the house that's what all these things

that's what's so weird you know nothing happened you know I mean nothing really I mean we played video games you know we you know played it into the museum Park well the thing is the thing is with that

whole thing is that you know they go oh you slept in the same bedroom as him it's like I don't think you understand Michael Jackson's bedroom is two stories has like three bathrooms and this and that so when I slept in his bedroom yeah

but you have to understand the whole scenario and the thing is through all the ups and downs of Michael's life Mack was there for him Mack never publicly bashed him he only has positive memories of the star in

2005 he testified under oath that all accusations of sexual misconduct were absolutely ridiculous and untrue Home Alone 2 lost in New York was the 1992 sequel to Home Alone that was another Smash Hit Mack was paid 4 million

dollars for the film and it earned more than 359 million dollars in the box office it was met with some criticism initially for having basically the same exact plot as the first one with some minor tweaks but over the years this

film has become the most iconic and beloved of the series the Monstrous success leveled up the culkins immensely Macaulay was officially the most successful and highest paid child in Hollywood since Shirley Temple and still to this day I don't think there's a more

iconic child star than Macaulay Culkin his father kit gained substantial influence in Hollywood because for Studio Executives to reach Macaulay they needed to go through kit in 1993 Premier magazine rated kit Culkin the 48th most powerful person in Hollywood ahead of

Michael Douglas and Eddie Murphy Studio Executives complained that Kitt tried to use his power to seize creative control of macaulay's movies because of this controlling nature Kitt was making enemies quickly little did they know that Macaulay Culkin's career at age 12

just peaked and it was all downhill from here the good son was a thriller where Mack plays the role of Henry a psychopathic child who kills people the film did 60 million dollars in the worldwide box office which seems like a

massive step down since home alone but considering a totally different movie genre and not based on Christmas I would say it's still good numbers Mack was still beloved for his acting and most of the negative reception was based on the

plot by 1993 Macaulay was just tired and desperately told his father he needed a break he just wanted to go to school he said yeah sure and the next thing I knew I was on the next set doing the next

thing and it just kind of clicked in my brain okay there's basically nothing I can do to make this stop I was making God knows how much money and kit was making me sleep on the couch just because he could just to let you know

who's in charge and just to let you know if he doesn't want you to sleep in a bed you're not going to sleep in a bed The Nutcracker getting even with Dad the pagemaster Richie Rich these next four

movies all released in 1994 and evidently the world was sick of Macaulay Culkin he was cashing in an 8 million dollar salary for each film which is equivalent to about 16.5 million dollars in 2023 value Richie Rich was the only

decently successful movie at a 75 million dollar worldwide box office and that's because it's basically the same format as home alone it became increasingly clear that Macaulay failed to find substantial success outside of Home Alone you know my father and my mother finally

you know called it quits which was one of the best things that ever happened um I was able to actually like walk away from the business I'd be wanting to take a break for a while and eventually like

I just was like I'm done I'm done guys like you know I I I hope you all made your money because there's no more coming from me and it's you know really so now but like I guess I quit for like

eight years I mean yeah at the moment this was the greatest thing that happened to Mac but it was the straw that broke the camel's back in his parents marriage they were gearing up for a divorce and a very public battle

for custody over him he did not want to go with his father but his mother was spending all of her money on lawyers trying to fight him so the only way Matt could get access to his money was to

legally take both of his parents names off of his trust fund he found an Executor to protect and look over his finances and was able to secure his multi-million dollar Fortune Kitt never showed up for the last day of the trial

he stole all of Max memorabilia and he hasn't seen him since the mid 90s it was never about money for Kit it was about control once he lost control he disappeared and he brought the ship down with him New York Magazine noted that

his rapid Ascent seemed less adorable and precocious the more people learned about his home life Plus everyone in Hollywood has a bad experience working with kit the result of this was that McCauley didn't do any film roles for 10

years so he did what all normal kids do went to high school but he did it for purely social reasons he also got married at age 17 to Rachel Miner he relished in the New York City counterculture lifestyle he dyed his

hair pink smoked drank vandalized walls and parking meters he was trying to live the polar opposite experience of his childhood and he had the money to treat everything like a hobby the media watched his every move and criticized

him he was one of the early targets of the Tabloid sensationalized media drama that famously targeted Britney Spears Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton it was so blown out of proportion Culkin says I never did anything more than any upper

class upper west side kid you know would we weren't like all squatting in the corner shooting heroin that quote was from 2001 a 21 year old Macaulay Culkin thought he already made it through the toughest times in his life and he didn't

realize his darkest days were yet to come in 2003 the 23 year old decided it was time to return to the spotlight likely seeking a more mature image he appeared in the biographical drama party monster which is rated ma15 plus Mack

only had one opportunity to make a grand return sadly he blew it critics tore the film apart with party monster receiving an awful 29 on Rotten Tomatoes while struggling to earn over 1 million dollars on a 5 million dollar budget the

public wasn't looking for him anymore Macaulay found himself in a complicated situation he was too old to appeal to a younger audience and the audience he garnered during his childhood had outgrown him desperate to bounce back from the disappointment Macaulay booked

a supporting role in the comedy film saved the controversial film was a moderate success more importantly macaulay's performance received positive reviews but just when he got a little bit of positive press he was arrested for drug possession Macaulay and a

friend were pulled over for speeding on I-44 in Oklahoma City the police found 17 grams of marijuana eight Xanax pills and 16 Klonopin none of which were prescribed to him at the time people jumped to conclusions labeling Culkin as

another child star gone wrong however Mack believed the arrest was totally blown out of proportion suggesting I'm supposed to be a lot more effed up than I am I took a certain amount of pride that I wasn't that cliche so it was like

oh great I gave a lot of people exactly what they wanted you know everything that I do for some reason becomes this big crazy thing you know even though any normal person does it like yeah I'm a kid I had a beer you know I smoked a

joint big deal you know what I'm saying it's not something I make a thing out of or anything like that Mack didn't think he had a problem he didn't think it could get worse but it did Macaulay got

divorced from his wife in 2002 and began a relationship with Mila Kunis they kept their personal lives very private they both grew up as child stars and leaned on each other for emotional support they didn't do press together and only rarely

were photographed together considering they dated for seven years after multiple failed attempts at coming back to the spotlight in early 2000s he just stopped trying allegedly McCauley attempted proposed a meal of multiple times in which she always said no then

in 2008 he got floored with some tragic news Macaulay Culkin's older sister Dakota was killed while walking home from Brennan's bar in West Los Angeles she was struck by a vehicle the driver immediately tried to render Aid she was

taken to the UCLA hospital with massive head trauma and passed away on December 10th there aren't very many pictures of Dakota since she stayed out of the spotlight this was devastating news for the family but to make it worse him and

Mila broke up I had a horrible breakup I I had a horrible horrible horrible breakup and I was horrible and then it made you were very sad over it no I [ __ ] up like I was an [ __ ] in my

20s and I'll be the first to admit it and that's kind of something that took me a long time to come out and be like yeah you know what I was a dick and I accepted and I own it now yeah and it's

[ __ ] up what I did it's like what I did and [ __ ] up how I did it Mila kind of hints here that she may have cheated on Macaulay or at least left him at his

most vulnerable time after seven years after this all of Mac's public photos were very concerning he looked extremely skinny unhealthy and potentially using drugs extremely bold articles were published stating that he was addicted to heroin and had only six months to

live they did not have any evidence to back up these claims only that he had been arrested for drugs in the past plus many years later he said I wouldn't be the person I am today if I hadn't had

drugs in my life at some point or another Macaulay does admit this was the darkest time of his life he couldn't eat all the foods he used to love eating he couldn't sleep he couldn't find any purpose in waking up in the morning then

he got hit with another devastating blow when his lifelong friend Michael Jackson sadly passed away in 2009 the darkness loomed over his head for many years he still just wanted to be left alone but the media took any chance

they could to post something about the child star who's cursed he started a comedy musical group called Pizza underground where he did pizza themed covers of songs [Music] nothing screams leave me alone and I don't care then putting a pizza on your

face and playing a toy trumpet in 2013 he abruptly moved to Paris I thought nobody recognized me yeah what it was was no we recognize you we just don't care oh yeah that's better is there better where have you people been my

whole life kind of thing Mack was desperate to find some normalcy in his life and he found it in France he stayed there for four years away from the cameras away from the rumors just walking around Paris with a baguette

under his arm and Blended in with everybody else during his four-year stint over there his father said he doesn't even consider Macaulay his son anymore and while that does seem like a very bold statement from his father I'm

sure Macaulay feels the same way the thing that prompted his move back to the United States was meeting his now wife Brenda Song while on the set of changeland in 2018 Macaulay met and began dating Brenda best known for her

appearance as London Tipton on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody bonding over being child stars Mack thought it was too good to be true he thought she would up and leave like other women in his life but

the couple would later get engaged and seemed happier than ever they've been together ever since Macaulay was so traumatized by his youth he never thought he would have children of his own but in 2021 Brenda gave birth to

their son Dakota who they named after macaulay's sister his relationship with Brenda brought some new life into him he started multiple creative projects since meeting her a comedy podcast called bunny ears multiple television roles and voice over Parts he even had a big

acting return in 2021 for the 10th season of American Horror Story in which viewers praised his performance his character Mickey quickly became a fan favorite he remains relatively active on social media and has done a lot of public interviews and podcasts since

meeting her it seems like his wife and new family gave hope to the now 42 year old his father is in poor health but Macaulay refuses to let his child meet his grandfather but with the abusive past it's hard to blame Mack for this

despite everything that's happened and constantly going in and out of retirement Mack is grateful for the way his life went although he endured years of abuse unfair public scrutiny potential drug habits and peaked at age 12 he is still grateful for the

opportunities and money that came along with it this life he didn't choose for himself he was born to achieve his father's Dream by the time he was 10 he had achieved everything his father never could and since then he's been living

life on his own terms