Humble Beginnings

Culkin was born to Kit and Patricia, a modest couple with no connection to the artistic world whatsoever. He actually had to hustle for change in order to help his parents take care of his seven siblings.

A Manager or…?

His dad Kit loved the notion that his son made it big and oftentimes acted as his manager. He was the one asking for bigger paychecks, so he easily became known as a headache for movie directors and producers.

Artistic Connections

In Home Alone, Macaulay wasn’t the only Culkin that appeared on the set. His real-life brother, Kieran, was the little kid who played the role of his cousin Fuller. His brother Rory followed their example and went on to act.

Not so Funny Now, huh?

Despite the two bandits being hilarious, Joe Pesci, one of them, oftentimes scared Macaulay while on set. Joe was fresh off his Goodfellas role, playing a hard nosed mobster ready to kill at any moment. Yikes.

A not so shabby payday

We all remember Home Alone as a hit movie back in the day. But how amazing was it, actually? It earned more than $500 million worldwide, with sequels nearing that amount. Macaulay was offered $8 million for his next role.

An attempt at parenting

Dealing with money and fame is a burden sometimes, let alone in you’re a child star. That’s why Macaulay’s parents hid his earning from him and hid him from the tabloids, just so that he wouldn’t become spoiled.

Saturday Night Live

Culkin had the incredible honor of hosting the Saturday Night Live show at the tender age of 11. He delivered a masterful performance, completely blowing away any viewers in sight. The performance is still legendary.

First love?

As kids grow up, they tend to set their sights on love. At the age of 11, Macaulay received his first kiss on the set of My Girl. The lucky lady was his costar Anna Clumsky. The scene was awarded with Best Kiss at the MTV Movie Awards.

Problems

Despite Macaulay’s career heading in an upwards direction, his parents’ marriage was falling apart. They were divorcing in 1995, with the tensions between Macaulay and his dad growing. It seems as if he was jealous of his own son.

The ugly truth comes out

During the divorce proceedings, it became known that Kit hit Macaulay’s mother twice while she was pregnant! He also threatened to kill her several times. When the divorce was done, the seven children went on to live with their mom.

Even more tragedy

As if that wasn’t enough, in later years Macaulay went on to lose two sisters, Jennifer Adamson and Dakota Culkin, both at the age of 29. One died from a drug overdose, while the other was struck by a car in a freak accident. One man can only handle so much tragedy…

Committed to his Craft

Culkin was so determined to succeed that he wanted to bring his vocal delivery to a near perfect level. He practiced tongue twisters multiple hours per day. He loved them so much that he created some of his own for practice.

Insecurities

We all have insecurities, but media attention and scrutiny tend to make them far more noticeable. Young Macaulay quickly realized that his two eyes are of different sizes, something that started bothering him incredibly.

More fears

Because of all the attention he received as a child, Macaulay started suffering from agoraphobia, the fear of crowds and public spaces. Instead of standing put, Macaulay decided to battle his fear by getting a dog and walking him.

MJ Notices him

Michael Jackson was amazed by Macaulay’s role in a live ballet version of the Nutcracker, in which Macaulay played the role of Fritz. They became best mates and Michael invited him to star in one of his music videos.

Supporting his friend

When allegations against Michael Jackson arose, Culkin immediately denied any form of abuse. He just noted that the two were very close because Michael understood what it was like to become famous too early in your life.

Further bonding

Culkin and the King of Pop started hanging out more and more as the years went on. Eventually, Michael chose him to be the godfather of his daughter, Paris. Some tabloids indicated that he might be the father of Paris’s younger brother.

A committed godparent

Despite what the media says about Macaulay, he is a committed godparent. He and Paris are incredibly close and have even gotten matching tattoos of red spoon. It symbolizes how they’ve overcome an incredibly amount of trials in their life.

A tragic fire

In 1998, Macaulay’s mother was careless and accidentally started a fire in her apartment. The accident led to the deaths of four people, with 22 more sustaining serious injuries. Some people filed lawsuits even against Macaulay himself, despite him not knowing about anything.

Education is indeed important

Although many child actors leave school at an early age, Macaulay still wanted to go to high school. He attended a special one for famous kids and was very popular at every point of his education. His classmates still remember him.

Things are getting serious

Macaulay ended up meeting his first wife in high school, despite the fact they weren’t on friendly terms in the beginning. They were on and off numerous times, with the fourth time being the charm. They were so happy.

A strange couple

Miner and Macaulay were cute together, despite the fact they got married at the age of 17 in 1998. They lasted four years, with only a few public appearances. Instead, they watched movies and took care of stray animals whenever they could.

Creative way to fend off the media

Instead of hiring security for their wedding, they decided to announce a scavenger hunt. Every guest received the clues and coordinates to a house in Connecticut, where the wedding took place. A genius solution, we must say!

Couple goals

Macaulay went on to date the even then famous Mila Kunis. They went on strong for a whole 8 years, before splitting in 2010. They had a peaceful relationship and the media loved how spontaneous and cute they both were.

Horrible Breakup

Unfortunately, after eight happy years together, Kunis and Culkin went their separate ways. Years after their break up, Kunis opened up about their relationship, saying that "I had a horrible breakup. I had a horrible, horrible, horrible breakup," she said "I was an a--hole in my 20s and I'll be the first to admit it."

Quick to rebound

Macaulay didn’t waste time after splitting with Mila Kunis. Later on, he was seen with Jordan Lane Price, a soap opera star, holding hands in Paris. They were cheerful and danced in the streets the entire day. Macaulay, you dog, you!

Legal problems

Macaulay loved the fame and all the stuff that came with it. Because of his love of partying, he was arrested when the police found illegal substances in his car in 2004. Thankfully, he was released on bond.

A return?

Writing

In 2006, Macaulay decided to put his life on a paper by writing a memoir called Junior. It didn’t get received so well, but it was full of touching details about his upbringing and the problems he faced with his estranged father.

Can’t lay off the cigs

In the midst of his rise to fame, Macaulay started smoking, but not just a little – it went completely out of control. At one point, he smoked around 60 cigarettes on a daily basis. Most people suspect that it was Pete Doherty, Kate Moss’s ex, who got him into it.

Drug addiction?

We’ve all seen photos of him looking pale and homeless. However, he never did get hooked on drugs, he is just nonchalant and doesn’t care about his appearance. He’s always relaxed and unfazed, which freaks some people out.

A picky actor

Macaulay has enough money from his childhood fame days, so he doesn’t need to overwork himself. He only chooses projects that suit him. One of the strangest was The Wrong Ferarri, a weird movie filmed entirely on an iPhone.

Art?

Macaulay always loved art and the various forms it can take on. That’s why he started an art collective in 2012. It’s called 3 Men and a Baby. They source their creations from capitalist culture and many popular symbols that engulf our everyday life.

The Pizza Underground

Culkin had the brilliant idea of starting a The Velvet Underground tribute band. However, there was one catch. They named themselves The Pizza Underground and decided to replace all the lyrics with pizza subjects. Not a bad idea actually.

Playing the Kazoo

Culkin band was very obligated to the pizza theme and in addition to the standart instruments, the percussionist Deenah Vollmer played on a pizza box. More than that, the band gave out boxed pizzas to people who attended their live performances.

An obsession with pizza

Macaulay was pretty much always hooked on pizza. He even appeared in an Andy Warhol homage video eating a giant slice of his favorite food. People thought the notion was hilarious and have lauded the young man for doing such a thing.

Dead?

Like always, people on the internet started spreading rumors about fake deaths. In 2014, there were growing reports of him passing away. He posted a funny picture to dispel the pointless rumors. He had much more in him!

Still estranged

In 2014, Macaulay’s estranged father passed away after suffering from a stroke. Allegations concerning child abuse arose due to the fact that nobody of his seven children reached out to him in his final moments. Seems like he was a bad man.

Enough is enough

Macaulay has been living in Paris for the few years, mostly because he wanted to get away from all the media attention that has been surrounding him. Although people do recognize him, he is far less recognizable in France.

A TV series?

Although many people don’t know, Macaulay returned to his role from Home Alone. In the web series called :DRYVRS, he reprised the older version of his childhood role, playing a man still traumatized from childhood abandonment.

A new man

Nowadays, Culkin is more peaceful than ever, having cleaned up his life. He smokes less and is even on the verge of starring in a movie called Changeland, the directorial debut of one Seth Green. Other stars are set to have roles in the movie.

Falling in Love

Culkin shared via Anna Faris Is Unqualified podcast, thoughts about his relationship with the actress Brenda Song. He said “I’m with a lady right now and she is like so good to me that they feel like blows. Like, she just does nice things and I feel like I’m almost like, at first I didn’t know how to be treated well in that kind of way. It was a strange, almost foreign kind of concept. That kind of thing, that was important to me and now I realized, ‘Oh, it is important to me as well.’”

Bunny Ears

Lately, Culkin founded a lifestyle brand named "bunny ears". The brand ideal is (as decribed on their site) "We want to explore the modern lifestyle choices that people make in great depth because we know that healthy relationships and mental wellness are the keys to happiness."