Macaulay Culkin Reveals Why He Hasn’t Spoken to His Dad in 30 Years
Macaulay Culkin was one of the biggest actors in the world in the 1990s, starring in movies like "Home Alone," "Richie Rich," "My Girl" and many others.
But the now 44-year-old actor went away for a while. After starring in "Richie Rich" in 1994, Culkin didn't appear in another movie or TV show for about 10 years. He recently opened up about why he decided to walk away.
Culkin, whose younger brother, Kieran Culkin, just won an Oscar for his performance in "A Real Pain," said that he essentially got burnt out. It went from being fun to feeling like a job. And for a kid, that was not OK.
The longtime Hollywood star recently opened up to Kate Hudson and her brother Oliver Hudson's "Sibling Revelry" podcast. He revealed that he hasn't spoken to his dad in 30 years.
Culkin admitted that he went to his father in the 1990s and told him that he was tired and he wanted to take a break. His father didn't allow it, though. He ended up getting put in more movies and felt like he "was stuck."
Then, when Culkin was about 14 years old, his parents split up. Culkin saw this as his chance. He decided to quit acting and it's been about 30 years since he spoke to his father.
"He's a man who had seven kids and now has four grandkids, and none of them want anything to do with him," Culkin said.
Culkin doesn't believe that his father feels like he's done anything wrong, though.
“I have more than an inkling that he does not feel that way," he added. "Like we're wrong and he's right. He's one of those narcissistic people."
Culkin admitted that the divorce was tough on him, too, as a custody battle broke out.
"I wanted nothing to do with my father" he admitted. "He was just the worst. The judge was like, well, you have to do visitations with him. I told my lawyer, 'Yeah, I'm not doing that.' He said, 'Well, you'll be in contempt of court' and this and that."
"Well, how about this? I dare the judge to put me in jail for not wanting to visit his abusive father.' I actually had to double down on that. 'I double dare him to arrest the most famous kid in the world.' I never played that card, but that was the one time I played that card.”
Culkin admitted that he tries to be much different with his own kids.
"Now that I got kids of my own, it makes me kick up some dust and I go, 'I can't believe he was like that. He had all these lovely kids,'" Culkin said, adding that he thinks his father: "had a certain amount of resentment towards me. Because he wanted to be an actor. He never really got as far as chorus on Broadway, and then he did some ballet too."