“He Was A Bad Man”: Macaulay Culkin Opened Up About His Estrangement From His Abusive Father As He Confirmed He’s Not Spoken To Him In Over 30 Years
“A lot of the time, when I was on the road doing things, it was just me and him, so I was kind of locked in a room with a crazy person.”
This article details allegations of child abuse.
Macaulay Culkin was just 6 years old when he first started acting, and as you probably know, he quickly became one of the most famous child stars of all time. While he initially quit the industry at 14, he slowly returned to the spotlight in adulthood — and since then, he has not held back when it comes to his difficult relationship with his father, Kit Culkin.
And during an appearance on the Sibling Revelry podcast on Monday, Macaulay, now 44, opened up even more about how he was treated by his father throughout his childhood as he confirmed that he’d not seen or spoken to him in more than 30 years.
Explaining why he walked away from his child stardom as a teen, Macaulay shared: “I was tired, man. I was so tired. And the thing is, I remember when I was probably about 11 or 12, I remember talking to my father. And I said: ‘I’m getting tired, I think I need a break,’ and he goes: ‘Yeah, yeah, I’ll look into it.’ And the next thing I know, I was in the next thing, and the next thing, and the next thing. I was like: ‘Oh, I’m stuck. Now, I’m stuck.’”
Macaulay also enforced this newfound autonomy when it came to the custody arrangement with his father. He recalled: “During the whole custody thing, I wanted nothing to do with my fucking father. He was just the worst, and the judge was like: ‘Well, you have to do visitations with him.’ I didn’t say this to the judge — I was a smartass, but I wasn’t that much of a smartass — but I told my lawyer: ‘I’m not doing that.’ He’s like: ‘Well, you’ll be in contempt of court,’ I go: ‘OK, how about I dare this judge to put me in jail for not wanting to visit [my] abusive father. Actually, I’m going 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 kind of played that card.”
When asked about his relationship with his dad now, Macaulay confirmed: “I haven’t spoken to him in what would be about 30-something years. Oh, he deserves it, too. He’s a man who had seven kids, and he has four grandkids, and none of them want anything to do with him. As a man myself, I would know that I fucked up, I really must have done something wrong… I have more than an inkling that he does not feel that way. Like, we’re wrong, and he’s right — he’s one of those kind of like narcissistic, crazy people.”
The star also shared his belief that his father resented him because he’d wanted to be an actor himself but never made it. Macaulay explained: “Then, all of a sudden, he has this kid that didn’t look anything like him — I look a lot like my mother, I don’t look like him — and right off the bat, I instantly got the lead stuff in the ballet company, I instantly booked all these things, I think he resented me for that. I think he kind of hated me a little bit for that, so I think that’s why he was a little bit harsh with me.”
And while Kit was abusive toward all seven of his children, Macaulay said that he “took a big brunt of it,” sharing: “A lot of the time, when I was on the road doing things, it was just me and him, so I was kind of locked in a room with a crazy person. I really took the brunt of it for the family, but they got their licks, too; like I said, he was just a bad guy across the board.”
“He was a son of a bitch; he was bad to his kids, he was bad to his wife, he was the worst person I’ve ever known in my entire life,” Macaulay concluded, before poignantly adding: “It super sucks, but I wouldn’t be the man, I wouldn’t be the father I am today if it wasn’t for my experience. At the end of the day, I was like: ‘I’m gonna win,’ and here I am.”
Macaulay shares two children with his wife, Brenda Song, 3-year-old Dakota and 2-year-old Carson. In the podcast, he confirmed that he and his kids have a good relationship with his mom, who married another man around 15 years ago and now lives on a ranch in Montana.
If you are concerned that a child is experiencing or may be in danger of abuse, you can call or text the National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453(4.A.CHILD); service can be provided in over 140 languages.
