Macaulay Culkin's adult life has been as unconventional as his childhood was busy.
But did you know it hasn't all been smooth sailing for the former child star?
From tragic losses, repeated heart breaks, and vicious rumors, keep watching to learn
the tragic life story of Macaulay Culkin.
Macaulay Culkin and his six siblings grew up in a cramped New York City apartment, with
all seven kids sharing bunk beds in one room.
Culkin told New York Magazine the apartment resembled a long hallway and didn't even have
doors.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Culkin's mom, Patricia Brentrup, answered telephones
for a casting agency while his father, Kit, worked at a Catholic church so his children
could attend school there.
Billy Hopkins, the New York casting director who gave Macaulay his first part, confirmed
that the Culkin family struggled financially.
In an interview with New York Magazine, he shared,
"Macaulay would crawl under the bleachers at the theater to look for change that had
fallen out of people's pockets."
Hopkins added he would pay out of his own pocket to get Macaulay back and forth from
rehearsals.
Macaulay's dad, a child actor himself, saw an opportunity to capitalize on his kids and
became their full-time manager, according to The Telegraph.
Macaulay told Joe Rogan he didn't really have a say about his own career, explaining that
his parents would select his roles for him.
Kit Culkin worked his child star son hard, but Macaulay's problems with his father went
much deeper than that.
He told Marc Maron's WTF podcast his dad was emotionally and physically abusive, and claimed
he even had the scars to prove it.
Kit, The Telegraph reports, had a reputation as a manipulative manager in Hollywood, and
it seems he was the same way with his son.
Macaulay wasn't the only target of Kit's wrath.
Patricia claimed he was often drunk and punched her repeatedly while she was pregnant.
One time, she told The Telegraph, he even threatened to throw her off their balcony.
She filed for sole custody of the children and in 1997, she won, according to UPI.
Macaulay has been estranged from his father ever since, and claims Kit Culkin never felt
like a real dad to him in the first place.
"My concept of a father, almost, is one of those things you get from like TV shows and
movies."
Macaulay Culkin's younger brother Kieran grew up on movie sets, but never matched his brother's
level of stardom.
In turn, he didn't experience the level of harassment Macaulay did as a child.
People would go after him on the street, and one woman even forcibly removed his hat to
get a better look at his face.
"That's not exactly a nice thing that happened to him at the age of nine.
It wasn't nice for him to, like, walk down the street the street and people, like, chase
him and stuff."
Macaulay's hassles didn't stop as he grew older.
In an interview with Esquire, he admitted that he enjoyed the attention as a kid.
Now fully grown, Culkin told The Guardian that he consciously tries to avoid attention
from fans and the press.
He managed to avoid much of the harassment while living in Paris, but said that the flashing
cameras in his face never stopped.
To this day, Culkin still lives with the threat of encountering the paparazzi just walking
down the street.
As the publicity has been a large part of his entire life, he lives in a constant state
of vigilance.
In the same Guardian interview, he said,
"You take on a prey-like attitude, always scanning the horizon."
Macaulay Culkin followed up on his Home Alone momentum with successful performances in the
1991's My Girl and the 1992 sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.
By all accounts, 1994 should have been a great year for the teenage star, but it ended up
being quite the opposite.
Getting Even with Dad was a big disappointment at the box office.
It wasn't just producers who were unamused by the comedy's performance, critics were
lining up to give it the old thumbs down.
As Culkin got older, critiques for his work got more harsh.
Lesley Thornton of The Independent summed his reception up well, saying:
"Macaulay Culkin is getting on a bit for a child star, but shows no sign of turning into
a young actor in Getting Even With Dad."
Unfortunately, Richie Rich didn't fare much better, and the reviews weren't kind to its
titular star.
Cinema Crazed observed that Culkin seemed "bored" throughout the film, and other writers
were even more scathing.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Culkin made $16 million dollars from Getting Even With
Dad and Richie Rich alone.
The question was, did he have a future as an actor moving forward?
Looking back on his childhood, Macaulay Culkin told New York Magazine he remembered one day
telling his father he wanted to work less.
"I like, I never chose the projects.
My parents, ya know, like, essentially chose them for me."
In response, his father said "Yeah, sure," but proceeded to continue signing his son
up for projects.
That's when Culkin realized he had to take his career into his own hands.
In 1994, Culkin quit acting at the age of 14.
In a 2004 interview with Spin, he explained that he told everyone in his circle he was
cutting them off financially.
On The Early Show, Culkin said,
"I was so tired.
I had wanted a break for a long time and no one was listening.
When I was in a position where I could walk away, I just did."
In a 2001 interview with Time, Culkin explained that he wanted to disappear from the public
eye as drastically as he possibly could.
Culkin also recalled wanting a more normal childhood and begging his dad to let him go
back to school.
According to Esquire, he hadn't completed a full year of school since the first grade.
This request, like many others, fell on deaf ears.
Culkin decided he would start a new chapter of his life and just be a normal kid in high
school.
On the first day of school, Macaulay Culkin met Guiding Light actor Rachel Miner.
He told New York Magazine that Miner always perceived him as "a jerk".
Apparently their first few encounters weren't especially warm.
However, that didn't stop the pair from beginning an on-again off-again relationship, and eventually
marrying in 1998.
They were both only 17 years old.
"Child stars, they probably age in a way like dog years.
And their 17 is maybe like your 25 or 35."
Culkin reports that Miner had broken up with him 3 times before they married.
The last time they were together, Culkin outright told her, "Marry me now before you dump me
again."
According to ABC News, the couple announced they were separating after 2 years of marriage.
Culkin admitted that his reclusive nature may have hurt the relationship.
The marriage ended in divorce in 2002.
In an interview with Spin a few years later, Culkin would joke that he only had three options
as a young star: go broke, battle with drug addiction, or marry young.
It seems he fell victim to the final choice.
In 1998, four people died and many more were injured in a fire that started in the Culkin
family's apartment.
According to The New York Times, the fatalities occurred as a result of "the superheated,
smoke-filled stairwell" as residents of the building tried to escape the fire.
According to the FDNY report, Patricia Brentrup called to report that her electric heater
caught fire and spread to the couch.
She woke the Culkin kids and quickly whisked them out of the apartment.
Brentrup told the New York Post that in her rush to save her children, she neglected to
shut the door.
The open door, according to the report, is what caused the stairwell to fill up with
smoke.
Macaulay, who was not living in the apartment when it happened, told New York Magazine he
got the news quickly via some family friends.
Culkin said that early reports of the fire weren't especially accurate, and some even
made it seem like he was the one to start the fire.
Thankfully his family all made it out safely, though he still reflects on what an awful
tragedy occurred at his childhood home.
In 2008, Macaulay's sister Dakota Culkin was hit by a car after she stepped onto a street
in Los Angeles.
She died later from massive head trauma, according to TMZ.
Kieran told The Hollywood Reporter in 2021, Dakota was extremely funny and deeply loved
by her family.
After her death, Kieran reflected,
"Each one of us handled [her death] very differently.
I think everyone was just torn up inside."
Macaulay told Esquire about the last conversation he had with his sister.
The night she died, she called Macaulay to let him know she had watched one of his films
and enjoyed it.
He thanked her and told her to go to sleep.
Culkin reports that she then went out to purchase something, and was hit by a car.
Dakota's friend, Andrea Poe, told People the former production assistant moved to Los Angeles
to work in the film industry.
Reportedly, she was very proud of her family and regularly spoke to Macaulay.
Poe also assured that Dakota was very humble about sharing the Culkin name.
Macaulay Culkin and Mila Kunis seemed like the perfect couple when they first linked
up in 2002.
The Black Swan star told Women's Health that Culkin had been a long-time friend growing
up.
In an interview with Howard Stern, Kunis explained that she didn't like the ways fans interacted
with him.
"It wasn't like a normal response to a celebrity.
The fans responded in a very abnormal way to him."
In 2011, after Culkin and Kunis had been together eight years, Kunis announced the celebrity
couple's separation.
She described the breakup as "amicable" to Page Six, but later revealed there was much
more to the story.
In 2018, the That '70s Show star told Dax Shepard on Armchair Expert the breakup was
"horrible" and her fault.
She went on to explain that she wasn't happy with her actions in the relationship, and
regretted how she ended it.
Maybe the third time will be a charm for Culkin, who doesn't have the best track record when
it comes to relationships.
In January 2022, he announced his engagement to Disney Channel actress Brenda Song.
In 2021, the couple welcomed their son Dakota Song, named after Culkin's late sister.
In a statement obtained by Esquire, the couple said, "We're overjoyed."
On August 1, 2012, the National Enquirer's cover story read "Macaulay Culkin Addicted
To Heroin — Only 6 Months To Live!"
Of course, he outlived the prediction of his impending death.
Culkin's rep fired back, telling E! the story had no facts to back it up.
In response, the National Enquirer doubled down, refusing to retract the statement.
In fact, they added fuel to the fire by labeling their efforts as "a dramatic and much-needed
wake-up call to the 31-year-old actor."
Culkin responded in turn to The Guardian a few years later, vehemently denying the rumors
and frustrated that the tabloids were trying to wrap the headline up with a strange guise
of concern.
In his 2020 interview with Esquire, he got a little more candid on the topic of drug
abuse.
Culkin stated that, while he doesn't do recreational drugs, he had experimented in the past and
believes that substances played a role in developing his personality.
Back in 2005, Culkin pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges for possession of medication without
a prescription and cannabis.
He was given a one-year deferred sentence, according to Today.
This came after his arrest in Oklahoma City, where officers found over a half-ounce of
weed and several Xanax tablets.
Macaulay Culkin started the parody band, The Pizza Underground, in 2012.
The group is a tribute to the Velvet Underground that only sings about pizza.
Its lineup features Culkin on vocals and kazoo.
What could go wrong?
Apparently, a lot.
According to the Nottingham Post, 15 minutes into a Pizza Underground show in England,
the band was booed off the stage and pelted with beer.
While the audience threw their drinks, Culkin joked that he would have preferred just to
drink them.
One audience member took to the group's Facebook page to rub salt into the wound.
He wrote that he was happy to hit the band with his drink, and objected to the group's
"mockery" of a very influential musical group.
Others tweeted apologies for their neighbors' behavior.
Culkin told The Guardian,
"It's one of those good ideas you have when you're drunk, and you wake up and forget about
it.
But we're taking it to the end of the joke."
In his 2018 interview with Marc Maron, Culkin decided the joke had come full circle and
The Pizza Underground was officially six feet under.
That news, we suspect, was music to the ears of some listeners across the pond.
If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse, please contact the Childhelp
National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.