August 26 - Makalay Culkin turns 40. In general, if you don’t know what to see in these last days of summer, then fate itself gives you options. But we were interested in something else: what the hell was the kid from Home Alone doing all these dark years? Where did he go, what kind of troubles did he get himself into over these 30 years? It turned out that all this time he lived a full life, albeit in the shadows. He was on substances, divorced his own parents, became the godfather of Michael Jackson's children, organized a rock band and almost got punched by British listeners, created his own podcast, changed his name and became an arthouse director.
Became godfather to Michael Jackson's daughter
Now this, of course, sounds terribly contradictory, but as a child, Macaulay Culkin became friends with Michael Jackson, and they had a great time together. When a wave of accusations of pedophilia against Jackson began in 2003, Culkin claimed that nothing like that had happened to him - his over-aged friend was certainly a weirdo, but he did not allow himself anything ambiguous or bad. Macaulay himself, when asked why a grown man should be friends with a boy, answered that they were brought together by a common past - both were child superstars at one time, and show business seriously damaged both of their psyches.
Paris Jackson. Daughter of Michael Jackson and goddaughter of Macaulay Culkin.
By the way, even Macaulay Culkin’s current girlfriend, Brenda Song, is from the same category; as a child she was a Disney star, and then they forgot about her. Similar people are simply drawn to each other. But the strangest thing about this story is that Culkin became the godfather of Michael Jackson’s children, more precisely, his daughter, Paris Jackson (the one who recently announced that she wants to make a biopic about lesbian Jesus).
The star of the cult film “Home Alone” turned 40 years old
Macaulay Culkin became known thanks to the Christmas comedy Home Alone, which was released in 1990, although he played his first film role five years earlier. The ten-year-old boy charmed moviegoers so much that director Chris Columbus decided to make the second part of the film and was right: even though Home Alone 2: Lost in New York earned $118 million less than the first part. Culkin no longer starred in subsequent parts of the film, reports 5-tv.ru
The boy grew up, but still managed to appear in another famous comedy at a tender age. In Richie Rich, Macaulay Culkin played a millionaire boy, but the film failed at the box office.
In those years, Culkin’s reputation was negatively influenced by his father Christopher, who demanded multimillion-dollar fees for his son from film producers, and they were not eager to invite the “million-dollar boy” to their projects, which cost much less.
After being nominated for Worst Actor at the 1995 Golden Raspberry Awards, Macaulay Culkin disappeared from Hollywood and appeared in only a few low-budget films. The second wind came in 2003, when the actor played the main role in the cult film “Club Mania”. Alas, there was no career revival.
The commercialism of Macaulay Culkin's father
After the successful release of the Home Alone film series, Culkin's father Christopher realized that his son could earn millions. Directors who wanted to see a talented teenage actor in their films were given crazy conditions and millions in fees for Macaulay's work.
Culkin Sr.’s appetites increased after the boy was paid eight million dollars each for starring in the films “Like Dad” and “Richie Richie,” but Macaulay was growing up and was no longer a cute tomboy. Although even before the release of the comedy about a millionaire boy, Culkin took a break from his career due to fatigue from filming. His mother Patricia took the side of his son, and his father demanded that his son continue to work.
Due to the tense situation in connection with Macaulay's acting career, the Culkin family fell apart in 1995 and for two years the parents fought in court for custody of their minor children. All these events shook the boy’s psyche.
After a black streak, Culkin did not act in films until the early 2000s, but only played in small theater productions. In 2003, the actor was offered the main role in the film “Club Mania.” The comedy received good reviews from critics and became a cult classic. After this, he had no roles by which Culkin could be remembered.
Cute boy became a drug addict?
Rumors about Culkin's drug addiction have been around for a long time. In 2004, the actor was arrested for possession of marijuana: a photograph from the police station during Macaulay’s arrest spread across the media around the world. At that moment, it became clear that Culkin’s path, like many famous children, went downhill. In 2008, his younger sister Dakota died. The tragedy in the family only worsened his craving for illegal substances, and journalists assumed that Culkin was hooked on heroin. The press's opinion about the actor's drug addiction was reinforced by numerous paparazzi photos in which he was captured in an indecent manner.
Witness in the Michael Jackson case
As a child, Macaulay was friends with Michael Jackson and starred in his videos. The boy repeatedly visited Neverland, the singer’s ranch, where he built an amusement park and a zoo for children, and when the singer was accused of pedophilia in 2005, he defended him and testified in court. In an interview with The Sun newspaper, Culkin said that back in 1993, when Jackson was first accused of pedophilia, the artist called him and asked him to remain his friend despite the accusations. But at the trial, Macaulay admitted that he slept with the singer in the same bed about ten times, but there was no sexual harassment from Jackson.
The debate about Michael Jackson's accusations of pedophilia has not subsided to this day, and Culkin does not renounce his testimony even 15 years after the trial. The actor again had to remember this blemish in his biography after the release of “Leaving Neverland” in 2018, when the topic of Jackson’s pedophilic tendencies was again raised. In an interview with Esquire magazine in 2020, Macaulay again made a statement on this topic. The actor said that the singer “didn’t do anything with him” and asked him to leave him alone.
“He didn't do anything to me. I never saw him do anything. I have no reason to hide anything - especially now, now is the best time to speak up. The man died. If I had something to say, I would say it. But no, I never saw anything, he didn’t do anything,” Culkin said in an interview.
Macaulay Culkin now
There were no more prominent roles in Culkin’s acting career, but he did not give up and decided to devote himself to another type of creativity - music. In 2012, Macaulay created his own rock band, The Pizza Underground, but their first performance was booed and pelted with beer cans. The group broke up in 2016, and Culkin began starring in popular TV shows. As the actor himself admitted, he now lives on money earned in childhood and rents out real estate acquired during his popularity.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, the actor said that at one time he rejected an offer to star in the TV series “The Big Bang Theory”, losing a lot of money. In 2020, it became known that Culkin was busy filming the new season of American Horror Story. The actor's fans are eagerly awaiting his debut in the popular horror film. You can follow Macaulay’s life on his Instagram page, which he started in 2018.
Organized a rock band
In 2013, Macaulay Culkin and a couple of friends created the band The Pizza Underground. It all started as a joke - Culkin noticed that almost every Velvet Underground song seemed to be written about pizza, although the true meaning was disguised. At least that's what he still thinks. The friends decided to do a pizza jam session and they loved it. As a result, they gave many concerts and even went on a tour of North America. In many ways, the popularity of their group can be attributed to the fact that its members fed the audience pizza at their concerts. And also because Culkin plays the kazoo. How many frontmen do you know who play the kazoo?
In May 2014, The Pizza Underground played at the British Dot to Dot festival. They didn't last even 15 minutes on stage - the audience booed the band and started throwing cans of beer at the musicians. To this, Culkin began shouting into the crowd: “Why?!” Why are you throwing it away? I could drink it!
Became the director of an arthouse film
In December 2013, Macaulay Culkin rose from actor to director. He has at least one directorial work in his career. Here she is:
The film is called Macaulay Culkin Eating a Slice of Pizza and, as you can imagine, it is banter. This whole pizza thing is a continuation of a running joke with his group. And also a clear homage to a similar arthouse pop art film by Andy Warhol (not only the artist, but also the one-time manager of the Velvet Underground), where he eats a burger:
Andy
Was on substances
In 2012, a photo of Macaulay Culkin looking like an old junkie made the rounds of the tabloids and became a meme. The actor looked as if he weighed 40 kilograms and could barely hold an energy drink in his hands - many decided that he had completely lost his nerve and that next time we would see the actor in obituaries. But everything turned out to be somewhat more complicated. Back in 2004, when Culkin was 24, he was in trouble with the police when cops busted him in Oklahoma with pot and pharmaceutical drugs (for which he, of course, had no prescription).
Later, the media said that Macaulay Culkin uses 6 grams of heroin at a time and is also on fentanyl. He himself called these statements grotesque nonsense and advised the editors of the publications to worry less about themselves. However, in a recent interview with Esquire, speaking about recreational drugs, he admitted: “I love them. They are like good old friends to me. But sometimes there comes a point when you outgrow your old friends.” He also does not hide the fact that he “drinks like a fish” and smokes constantly.
Another attempt
Culkin dreamed that viewers would stop associating his name with McAllister. And he left the film industry for 10 years. Having matured, he returned and immediately agreed to roles that were in no way associated with little Kevin. The actor’s filmography was expanded until 2020. But the stubborn viewer refused to believe that the pretty boy had matured and did not perceive him as a man.
As a result, Culkin left the film industry, deciding to pursue a career as a musician. But things didn’t work out in this field either. Perhaps it was because of a series of failures that Macaulay became friends with drugs and alcohol. Now Kalkin leads an idle lifestyle, living on the money he earned in his youth. Fans condemn him, but do not forget to turn on the TV every year on New Year’s Eve and enjoy watching “Home Alone.”
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Did a podcast
In 2020, Culkin began making his podcast Bunny Ears - Macaulay interviews guest celebrities while wearing stupid bunny ears. The calculation is made that, looking at his moronic appearance, the stars will be distracted, will not be able to follow his words and will begin to spill their secrets. According to Culkin himself, it works. True, there were not enough stars yet, and they were, to put it mildly, not of the first magnitude. Macaulay also came to Joe Rogan’s podcast, and they had a pretty fun conversation:
Of course, he should be on the Disgusting Men podcast. Who knows, maybe the time will come for a collaboration with Bunny Ears.
Macaulay Culkin and his drug addiction
One of the most famous early success stories is Macaulay Culkin's immediate surge in popularity after starring in the Christmas comedy Home Alone. They predicted a great future for him, because the boy’s talent manifested itself at the age of 4. However, the turbulent situation in Macaulay’s family, an unstable relationship with his father, and his and his son’s attempts to include other children in each film, the subsequent divorce and legal proceedings of his parents led to the fact that the young actor was removed from the life of cinema for 10 years. During this time, they managed to forget about him as a successful actor. And Macaulay Culkin himself grew up, became very thin and lost all his youthful charm. In addition, at the age of less than 18, the actor was already married. And two years later he managed to get a divorce.
How it all started and what came of it
All this contributed to me starting to smoke weed and drink an incredible amount of energy drinks. Therefore, when in 2003 Macaulay returned to cinema, playing the main role in the film “Club Mania” about a promoter who killed his drug dealer, many decided that in this hero Macaulay fully showed his true colors.
Macaulay Culkin always refrained from telling reporters about his lifestyle, so the press learned that he was taking drugs from friends. They said that the 8-year romance with Mila Kunis ended only because she could not come to terms with Macaulay Culkin’s drug addiction. However, parting with his beloved only worsened the situation and the actor became “addicted” to heroin.
Several times the famous actor tried to get rid of his addiction, however, he never completed the treatment, starting to take methadone again.
In 2020, for the first time in many years, the actor decided to share his thoughts with the press, giving an interview to the famous publication Guardin. At the time, 35-year-old Macaulay said he was still undecided in his life. Now he does not act in films, but writes poetry, paints and sometimes appears in commercials. In May of this year, he once again went to the clinic for addiction treatment. Although Macaulay Culkin himself does not admit the fact that he is a drug addict, arguing about it like this:
Politics, religion and drugs are alien to me. I didn’t spend $6,000 on heroin, as many paparazzi write. They are just trying to profit from gossip.
Changed my name
This point is directly related to the previous one. In 2020, Macaulay Culkin decided to hold a poll on Twitter and his podcast website to find out what middle name he should take. To be just a person with a first and last name seemed petty and mundane to him. The “Macaulay Culkin” option won the vote by a large margin. So now his full name is Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin. He recently promised that this will become his legal name - his lawyer is already working on it.
Starred in Party Monster
In 2003, Macaulay Culkin unexpectedly appeared on the screens after a ten-year hiatus. He played the tomboy again, but in a completely different spirit. In the film Party Monster (in Russian distribution - "Club Mania") he appeared in the image of Michael Alig - a real person who at one time raised the whole of New York to its ears, throwing the most grandiose parties and becoming a living legend. Sex, drugs and Seth Green included. By the way, the film is based on the documentary Party Monster: The Shockumentary, which tells about the rise and fall of Alig in even more grotesque and cruel tones than the feature film.
Biography facts
I would like to immediately make a reservation and note that in connection with the facts published several years ago by respected American publications that related to the actor, or rather the drug addiction of Macaulay Culkin, the article will also discuss this addiction of the young guy. But from the very beginning I would like to recall his biography:
- He was born on August 26, 1980 in New York, USA. He was the third child in a poor Catholic family, in which his father was once an actor and his mother was a telephone operator.
- He studied at a school with an acting bias, because his father had huge plans for his son.
- At the age of 5 he received his first minor role in an episode of a feature film. Before becoming widely known, he managed to participate in such projects as “The Equalizer” and “Uncle Buck”.
- In 1990, at the age of 10, Macaulay Culkin, whose drug addiction we will discuss below, received his first fee of 100 thousand dollars for the main role in the film “Home Alone.”
“Divorced” from his own parents
Macaulay Culkin twice had to fight off annoying journalists who wanted to know whether he was sexually abused as a child. The first time was when it was about Michael Jackson. The second was when the conversation turned to his father. Christopher Cornelius Keith Culkin (that's where Macaulay's thirst for a middle name comes from!) was a rare asshole and humiliated his son, but he was certainly not a rapist. Dad, a former average Broadway actor, decided to become his son’s manager after the success of the first part of “Home Alone” and, apparently, simply ruined his career, since he absolutely did not understand how show business works.
As the father of the family, he managed his son's fees and invested them spontaneously and mediocrely. Then my mother joined the family business, and the money began to go down the drain. At some point, Macaulay rebelled and officially fired his parents as his managers. Of course, this resulted in a huge fight, but Culkin still does not regret this decision. According to him, it was terrible, “it was a scary story,” but everything was done correctly. He himself calls it a “divorce” and after it he hardly communicated with his parents.
Carier start
Culkin still remembers with a smile how he began his journey. The stage of the theater studio seemed incredibly huge to him at that time; the boy was afraid that in such a large area the audience would not notice him. And he came up with a way to attract attention. He sang louder than everyone else, reciting the text, almost shouting. Naturally, the boy was noticed.
Culkin began to be offered small roles and filming in advertising. Unfortunately, his father acted as the actor’s manager. But the parent was not interested in the scripts, he only counted the fees. The father’s appetites were constantly growing, moreover, he began to demand that his other children star in films. Which is actually strange, because before the church minister did not show much interest in material wealth.
All this led to a sad result. The boy was offered few roles. And soon the parents divorced on the initiative of the mother, who accused her ex-husband of ruining her son’s career.
Starred in a parody of himself. And twice
Macaulay Culkin has long come to terms with the fact that everyone sees him as the creepy, overgrown boy from Home Alone. For many years this infuriated him, but by the age of 40 he became wiser and humbled. In 2020, he starred in a Google Assistant commercial that shamelessly exploited our nostalgia for an old Christmas movie:
Three years earlier, in 2020, Culkin shot a short film, Just Me In The House By Myself, in which he talks about the post-traumatic disorder that has haunted him since the events of Home Alone - but not on his own behalf (otherwise it would have been completely depressing ), and on behalf of the hero of the film, Kevin. According to the short film, he grew up as a cold-blooded, cruel neurotic, the events of those years broke his psyche worse than the Vietnam syndrome:
"Christmas. It's fucking Christmas. And your whole family is going on vacation. The whole family! And they forget their eight year old fucking son. Eight year old son! They leave him alone at home for a week. I defended my house from two psycho burglars. I still have nightmares."
