The Tragic Story Of Macaulay Culkin
Lifestyle News
By BRENT FURDYK
Money Woes
Financial insecurity was constant during Macaulay Culkin’s childhood. His dad was a struggling actor and cab driver, and his mom worked at a telephone answering service.
Culkin, his six siblings, and their parents lived together in a small railway apartment in New York City, with all seven kids sharing a single room and sleeping in bunk beds.
A Cruel Father
As a child, Culkin observed that as his stardom grew, it was directly proportional to the resentment his father and manager, Kit Culkin, held toward him.
"My father was jealous of me," Culkin explained in a podcast. "He was a bad man. He was abusive. Everything he tried to do in life, I excelled at before I was 10 years old."
His Parents’ Divorce
The breakup of Culkin’s parents led to a bitter court battle over his custody and their other minor children. During the trial, he learned how much money he'd actually earned.
UPI reported that the decision to give their mother sole custody was influenced by Culkin and his brother, Kieran, who testified that they wanted nothing to do with their father.
Fans and Paparazzi
Macaulay Culkin turned 43 in 2023, yet is still immediately recognizable to anyone who saw him in "Home Alone" or any other movies he made as a kid.
He takes walks in the middle of the night to avoid attention. As Culkin told The Guardian in 2016, he finds it more than a little puzzling that people are still interested in him.
Pausing His Career
After spending much of his childhood on movie sets, serving as a cash cow for his parents, teenage Culkin was burned out and desperate to take some time off.
Culkin began living a typical teenager's life and attended high school. Even though he'd stopped making movies and retreated from Hollywood, his fame remained undiminished.