Facts About The Culkin Family We Just Learned That Made Us Say 'Really?'
If you've seen - or even heard of - the Christmas classic film Home Alone, you know the name Macaulay Culkin. He was a bratty, spunky 10-year-old when he took over the Hollywood spotlight in the early 1990s. Macaulay isn't the only famous Culkin kid, either. In fact, the Culkin brothers (Macaulay, Kieran, and Rory) have won the hearts of many fans over the last few decades with their many roles on screen. But, as with most Hollywood famed families, there's a lot more beneath the surface we didn't know about these kids while they were reaching stardom.
Check out these facts about the Culkin family and siblings and vote up the facts you find most surprising.
- Photo: Home Alone / 20th Century Fox
At 10 years old, Macaulay Culkin signed a contract to be the leading lad in Home Alone. The success of that film was highly unexpected, but it went on to gross more than $457 million. Despite Macaulay's memorable performance in this holiday comedy, he was paid only $100,000. Although that might seem like a hefty price for a 10-year-old in 1990, he actually increased his pay drastically in his following roles.
However, it's a shame for Macaulay that he got a little jilted acting in the movie because he doesn't even get royalties for the reruns.
- Photo: My Girl / Columbia Pictures2155 VOTES
Macaulay Culkin Was The First Child Actor To Earn $1 Million For A Single Role
Shortly after Home Alone's astounding success, Macaulay Culkin was offered a role in the 1991 film My Girl as the kid who's essentially allergic to everything. The film was wildly popular, and for a kid who had previously stunned audiences with his likeability, it's no wonder his pay went up substantially from what he received for Home Alone.
In fact, his million-dollar payout for the role made Macaulay the first child actor to ever make a million or more dollars for starring in a single film.
- Photo: Saturday Night Live / NBC
Macaulay Culkin found himself in the center of the Hollywood spotlight in the early 1990s after the extreme success of his first film Home Alone. After the movie broke box office records, everyone seemed to want a piece of the young actor including the New York comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live. At just 11 years old, Culkin took the stage in the live show at the end of 1991. And apparently he did his monologue and all of his skits without cue cards.
Regardless of his impressive performance, Macaulay was not the youngest host of the famed comedy show. In 1982, Drew Barrymore took the SNL stage at just 7 years old. She rose to fame after her role in E.T. and would go on to host the show multiple other times, but has yet to be dethroned as the youngest person to host.
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Dakota Culkin Tragically Passed After Being Hit By A Car
Dakota Culkin, the second of the seven Culkin children, was mostly unknown due to her siblings' - primarily her younger brother Macaulay's - success. As the only Culkin child to never act, it's no wonder she found herself living in their shadows.
In December of 2008, she was struck by a car in Los Angeles, resulting in severe head trauma. The driver of the car apparently stopped his vehicle after the collision and tried to render aid to save her life until EMTs arrived. It was determined that there was no foul play involved in the incident. She passed away in the hospital shortly thereafter.
- Photo: Eva Rinaldi / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA 2.05109 VOTES
The Family Of Nine Lived In A Tiny Apartment For Years
When Kit and Patricia arrived in Manhattan, they were hard up for cash, so it's unsurprising that the apartment they rented at the time was small. And before Macaulay Culkin's big break they apparently weren't any better off while they were having kids, so it would seem that they rented the same (or similar) apartments for the better half of 15 years or so.
There are multiple accounts of the size of their living quarters. Macaulay recalled the space being nothing more than a small, one-bedroom apartment where he and his siblings were "stacked on top of each other." Similarly, Kieran described the space as being "just a hallway, and there were no separating doors, except for the bathroom, which didn't have a lock." Other descriptions say the apartment was a two-bedroom walk-up apartment, but no matter the definite size of the space, all descriptions point to one thing: it was small for nine people.
Kieran even jokingly said, "They raised seven kids in that apartment - for years! They just kept bringing babies home to this little space."
- Photo: Alan Light / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY 2.0678 VOTES
When Patricia And Kit Split Up, Their Custody Battle Was Ultimately Over Managerial Control
In the late 1990s, Kit and Patricia decided to separate, which led to a nasty battle over the children. Many people have speculated over time that the fight was actually not over the kids at all but instead over the Culkin fortune they'd amassed since Macaulay's breakthrough role in Home Alone. While there may be at least some truth to that case, other statements suggest other motivations were the force behind the battle. Kieran Culkin revealed in an interview that the custody struggle wasn't actually about the money at all, but it wasn't about the kids, either. Instead, he claimed that Kit sought sole control over the kids' careers: "He was OK with losing custody, if he could still be our manager."
Prior to the separation, it's recorded that the two parent managers split a 15% commission from their children's success, but the two lawyers took different approaches in court. While Patricia's lawyer stated the issue was solely over custody of the kids, Kit's said the two motivations were inextricably tied together.
Just as trial was set to begin, however, Kit conceded custody to his previous partner and has since severed ties with all of his children.
- Photo: Greg2600 / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA 2.0770 VOTES
There Were Actually Seven Culkin Siblings
Macaulay Culkin put his family's name on the map with his portrayal of Kevin McCallister in the classic comedy Home Alone. He then went on to garner more fame with roles in other movies like My Girl and friendships with major stars like Michael Jackson. However, he's not the only Culkin who has found reasonable success in Hollywood. Macaulay's younger brothers Kieran and Rory have also found roles in successful roles in Succession and Scream 4, respectively.
Yet, there are more. The Culkin parents, Kit and Patricia, actually had seven total kids together: Christian, Dakota, Macaulay, Kieran, Rory, Shane, and Quinn. Of all of the siblings in the famous family, only one never tried acting (Dakota), and although the other six have all tried their hands in front of the camera, some of their careers were short-lived.
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Patricia Bentrup Was Sued For A Large Fire That Killed Four People
At one point Patricia and most of the Culkin siblings lived on the 19th floor of an Upper West Side high-rise building, and in 1998, their apartment caught fire. Investigations pointed to a short-circuit of a wire in a wall-mounted heater as the cause of the blaze. The flames and smoke ravaged the 19th floor, and although the Culkin family escaped intact, four people unfortunately lost their lives during the event. The four victims likely succumbed to the heat and smoke that poured up through the stairwell when the fire ignited.
Patricia was later sued for wrongful death, property damage, and personal injuries because the fire erupted in her apartment. The eight lawsuits sought millions of dollars in damages. But Patricia claimed she shouldn't be held responsible because the building was problematic - demonstrated by the faulty heater installed in her apartment. Additional arguments against Patricia say that the building was fireproof, so if she had closed the apartment door when she and her family fled the flames, there would have been no fatalities during the incident.
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The Culkin Parents Were Actually Never Officially Married
Despite having a long relationship that resulted in seven children, Kit and Patricia were never actually married. Kit and Patricia met in 1974 while she was directing traffic. Young Kit, a struggling actor at the time, pulled up to talk to her, and it seems as though the infatuation with one another was almost immediate. The two left town to live on the road for a while until ultimately ending up in Manhattan, where Kit grew up.
Once they were settled in the city, the two started having children - about one every two years. All the while, the two never officially wed. In fact, they said they "never found the need" to make official vows to one another, but lived their life as if they had for 21 years.
Kit grew up similarly to his children: with a stage parent who pushed him into acting. In his teenage years he successfully made his way onto Broadway, starring in a production of Hamlet. Kit also had some smaller on-screen acting gigs in West Side Story and Beckett, but he never saw the fame of his third son Macaulay. In fact, Kit never saw the same amount of fame his sister Bonnie Bedelia had in the Die Hard franchise. While he may have sought the limelight for his kids out of conditioning for the way his mother managed his acting career, there may be another reason he took this route instead of becoming the star he had hoped.
Macaulay said that during Kit's stint on Broadway, he was cast as a blind man in King Lear. In that role, Kit had a soliloquy he put his whole heart into, but in doing so lost control of where he was on stage because his character was blind. Macaulay said that his father, by losing himself in the part so intensely, accidentally stepped off stage and into the first row. It's believed that this was Kit's final acting role.
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Kit Was Allegedly A Brutal Father
As an ambitious man who craved the spotlight and fame for his children, Kit became known essentially as a hellish stage father. According to many accounts, Kit tossed around the power he felt being the manager of a kid as sought after as Macaulay Culkin by threatening to cut off production if he didn't get his way. Kieran Culkin even stated that if his father were still in charge of his career, he's not sure he'd have a career anymore. And after having been manager to one of the biggest Hollywood stars for a few years, Kit was ultimately branded as box office poison when another film - Macaulay's final child acting role in Richie Rich - tanked.
Both Macaulay and Kieran recall their father as harsh and difficult to be around. Other words they've tossed around to describe their father include jealous and absent. Macaulay claimed Kit was both mentally and physically abusive when he was a child, and he wanted to assert his power every chance he got, including allegedly harsh punishments and humiliation.
- Photo: She's All That / Miramax Films
She's All That is a classic '90s rom-com that is still beloved today about an uncool high school chick who gets a makeover. And what high schooler in a '90s flick wouldn't have an annoying younger sibling? In Laney Boggs's case, her younger brother was played by Kieran Culkin. In the film, Kieran's character is a typical younger brother type who's bullied at school. Kieran apparently gets one question quite often: Why does he wear a hearing aid?
According to Kieran, the answer to that question is, "I don't f*cking know!" There's no character development that explains young Simon's hearing issues, and based on Kieran's answer any scenes left on the cutting room floor don't explain it either. Apparently the reasons for this costuming will always just be a mystery.
