CONTENT WARNING: This post includes brief mentions of physical and mental abuse.
But working that much as a child wasn’t easy for Macaulay. He has talked openly in the past about his complicated relationship with his father, Kit Culkin, who managed his child-acting career throughout the ’80s and ’90s, pushing him pretty hard.
During this period of his life, Macaulay had minimal downtime. In 2001, he told New York magazine: “I just remember the exact point when I was growing a little more tired – during The Good Son. I had already done one or two things that year, and I just said to Kit, ‘Listen, I’m really getting tired, and I’m not at school as much as I’d like to be; I really need some time off.’ He said, ‘Yeah, sure,’ and the next thing I knew I was on the next set doing the next thing, and it just kind of clicked in my brain: Okay. There’s basically nothing I can do to make this stop.”
In that same interview, and on other occasions since, Macaulay described Kit’s behavior as “abusive,” claiming that his dad would physically abuse him, his siblings, and his mom, Patricia Brentrup. In 2018, he doubled down on his claims about Kit, saying on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast: “He was a bad man. He was abusive, physically and mentally — I can show you all my scars if I wanted to.”
With all this in mind, you can understand why it might be hard for Macaulay to enjoy watching his earlier movies like the rest of us do. However, it seems that his perspective may have shifted in recent years.
For some context, Macaulay shares two children with his fiancée, fellow child star, Brenda Song. Their first son, Dakota, was born in April 2021, and their second son, Carson, arrived in December 2022. Macaulay and Brenda are very private when it comes to their sons; however, it’s clear that they’re both thriving as parents.
Now, appearing on Mythical Kitchen’s Last Meals series, Macaulay revealed that seeing his films through his kids’ eyes has helped heal his relationship with his movies and the personal difficulties that may have surrounded them.
“I can watch that movie now,” he said, referring to Home Alone. “I can watch pretty much the body of my work now. It takes on a completely different meaning.”
“Now that I have kids, I get to show it to them, and I see the joy that it brings them. Now it’s different, the game is changed for me,” he went on. “Before, it was a gig. Now it’s something that I can stand next to and be proud of, and show my kids. I don’t run from it, I don’t hide from it. If anything, I embrace it.”
Macaulay’s comments come just a few months after he recalled how John Candy went out of his way to check up on him while they were filming Uncle Buck together in the late ’80s.
“I think he always had that really great instinct. I think he saw… It was not hard to see how difficult my father was. It was no secret. He was already a monster,” Macaulay remembered. “I think John was looking a little side-eyed, like, ‘Is everything alright over there? You doing good? Good day? Everything’s alright? Everything good at home? Alright.'”
After everything he’s been through, it makes me so happy that Macaulay can finally enjoy these movies. You can find his full interview here.
