There was no bigger star in the 1990s than Macauley Culkin. He was the go-to child actor of the time. Most people know him from movies like My Girl, Uncle Buck, and, of course, Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost In New York. But Culkin was in a great variety of films thanks to his charm, good looks, and acting ability. His parents also pushed him to continue with this same path, hoping that he would make them a fortune. But his parents, Patricia Brentrup and Christopher "Kit" Culkin, had six other children: Shane, Dakota, who sadly passed years ago, Kieran, Quinn, Christian, and Rory. And this family went through a very complicated and dramatic history with one another, some of which Macauley has gotten into over the past few years. These events led him down a darker road that, thankfully, he's on the other end of.

But Macauley wasn't the only Culkin kid who was greatly impacted by the events of the past. Rory (Scream 4, Lymelife) and Kieran (HBO's Succession) have also become accomplished actors who share the same hurt as Macauley. So, what are we talking about exactly? Well, this article will delve into the convoluted and knotty past of the Culkin family. Without further ado, here is An Inside Look At The Macaulay Culkin Family.

20 Michael Jackson Was Macaulay's Best Friend

As most people know, Macauley Culkin had a bit of an odd friendship with pop sensation Michael Jackson. In fact, just recently, Culkin admitted to some more details about their relationship now that Jackson is under more scrutiny for his relationships. But Culkin maintains that Jackson was an amazing friend to him, even though Culkin was merely a little kid when he struck up this friendship with the much older Jackson. But Culkin claims that Jackson was emotionally very young and innocent, which is why the two could be such great friends. Jackson even made Culkin his daughter's godfather before he passed. Culkin said they gravitated toward one another because they both grew up in the spotlight when they were little kids.

19 Kit Lived Through His Kids

The patriarch of the Culkin family, Christopher "Kit," was known as being a relentless manager of his children. He was responsible for making sure they got work and they got paid for their work. And this money was something that he enjoyed as well. But Kit wasn't just doing what he did for the money. At one stage, he wanted to be an actor himself. One Hollywood executive told The New York Times, "I think he's living his life out through his son… He wants his son to get the kind of respect he didn't get as an actor."

Macaulay Culkin even told Mark Maron that Kit was trying to live his life through his kids. This is why he was so tough on them when they didn't do as well as he wanted them to. Macaulay even said, “Everything that he tried to do in his life, I excelled at... before I was 10 years old.”

18 Kit Made All of His Kids' Movie Moves

Although both Kit Culkin and Pat Brentrup took a cut as managers of Macaulay, Rory, and Kieran, it was Kit who was the one in charge. He made all the big movie moves for his children, making sure that they got the best jobs possible and that they were paid handsomely for it. He also wouldn't let Macaulay be part of the creative process and didn't even let him use cue cards for memorizing his lines.

The studio executives knew him as a very tough guy to deal with. Kit even tried to take Macaulay out of the Home Alone sequel unless Macaulay was given the lead role in The Good Son. This delay cost the studio over $4 million and put about 60 people out of work at Christmas. But as Macaulay's lawyer Ken Weinrib said, in regards to why Kit did this, "It wasn't about money. It was about power." 

17 Macaulay Saved His Family Financially

One of the reasons why Kit was too pushy when it came to his kids' jobs was that the family needed the money. They all came from humble beginnings and even lived in a 4-room apartment that was shared between nine individuals. Billy Hopkins, who gave Macaulay his first break in the play Afterschool Special recalls, "They were so poor I had to use my own money to make sure that he got to and from rehearsal. Macaulay would crawl under the bleachers at the theater to look for change that had fallen out of people's pockets."

But this all changed after Macaulay starred in Home Alone and made a cool $250,000. This helped propel the young star to make $8 million a movie and saved his family financially.

16 Money Didn't Make Them Happy

After Macauley started bringing home the bucks, he and his family were prospering financially. Over the course of about four years, Macaulay's manager parents split about $7.5 million from the standard 15% representation fee. But they are not happy. In fact, money only contributed to stress. Mom Patricia Brentrup even said the money was a curse. “We were happier living hand-to-mouth, and that's what's so hard. We don't get to enjoy what the whole family worked for together.”

Not long after, the parents were living in two separate, and yet sprawling, apartments in the same building. Although they had the comfort that some people can only dream of, the drama was only just starting.

15 The Split Wasn't Nice... At All

The Culkin parents developed a pretty unhappy relationship and were constantly fighting. Kit, as well, was arguing with his kids, most of whom were mad at him for pushing them into show business. Eventually, Patricia kicked him out and he moved to an apartment upstairs in the same building. It was an edgy and wary arrangement at first. But soon, things turned absolutely corrosive. Patricia Brentrup said that his behavior was not OK during their marriage, in multiple ways. Some of these problems even happened while Brentrup was pregnant with some of his kids. Several of his kids witnessed these events and stood by their mother.

14 Kit Made His Kids Sleep On The Couch

When Kit initially moved out from his family's place, he left for about 3 months. During this time, the family was on a bit of break from him. This did not make Kit happy. A couple of his kids would go to his apartment to see him but it was never a pleasant visit. Keiran Culkin recalls that Kit made him and his brothers sleep on the couch during their visits, instead of the beds in the apartment. He said that he thought it was a way for Kit to get at his kids for not standing by him in the split. Keiran seems to think that Kit did this out of anger and downright meanness. One could only imagine the toll this took on the youngest siblings.

13 Home Alone Director Was Concerned For Macaulay

During Patricia Brentrup and Kit Culkin's lengthy split, many of the Culkin kids were feeling the unhappiness of their parents. It was especially hard on them because the two parents battled back and forth about who would take the kids, although it did seem that there were other things at play. This is something that many noticed. Home Alone director Chris Columbus observed, "The custody battle seems to be two parents fighting over a young guy's earnings. If I were a kid, I'd want my parents to be fighting for custody of me because they love me--not for my money. It's a little bit depressing." Columbus seemed to have reached out to his young star, in hopes to help him through the challenging process.

12 Macaulay Moved Away From His Parents

Eventually, Macaulay just had enough of his parent's unhappy battle. Two years into his parents' colorful split, he decided to take the matter into his own hands. He didn't quite emancipate himself from them, but he did take their names away from any of his money. He explained, "Basically, I had millions and millions of dollars in the bank and my mother couldn't pay the rent because she was spending all of her money on lawyers… We were about to get evicted from our apartment. The only way I could get access to that money was to take my father's name off it, but I didn't want to make it messy, so I figured I'd take both their names off.”

11 Keiran Didn't Want A Life Of Fame

Although Keiran Culkin was acting at the same time as his brother, he didn't have his brother's level of success. For those who don't know, Keiran appeared as Macaulay's younger brother in the Home Alone films. But nowadays, he's up for multiple awards for his work in HBO's amazing series, Succession. But before all this, he wasn't interested in becoming famous. He told The Daily Beast, “I think if anybody saw real fame first or secondhand, they would not want to pursue it at all. It is not attractive... I don't do this for fame, I do this to be good.” Clearly, he learned the good things from his brother's time in the spotlight and not the bad things.

10 Rory Was Sheltered From The Drama

The youngest member of the Culkin family is also an accomplished actor who has starred in multiple films such as Scream 4, the brilliant indie Lymelife, and Signs. Luckily for him, he experienced the least amount of drama in comparison to his parents and his siblings. He was sheltered from a lot of it because he was the baby of the family. Rory told The Guardian back in 2005 that he didn't experience the full truth of how his dad was. He said, "Looking back on it now… It was strange, coming into school, and my classmates knowing more about my brother or my dad than I did because they'd read the newspaper." 

9 Patricia Had Some Fire Troubles

Although the matriarch of the Culkin family finally freed herself from her husband, her troubles didn't end when the papers were signed. In fact, in 1999, she had to deal with a whopping  $80 million lawsuit. This is because The Fire Department determined that a fire was started from her space heater and took out much of the apartment building. Most importantly, four people didn't make it out of the incident. This event resulted in a total mess that the family had to clean up. In fact, it was almost as stressful as the split between the two parents. None of the Culkins claim that this event was a happy time.

8 Keiran Thinks His Mom Held Them Together

Patricia Brentrup certainly had issues of her own, but many claim that she's the reason the family held it together during their trying times. The family's longtime friend, manager, and agent claims that Patricia "maintained strong family values, like the family having a meal together, the Christmas tree, Thanksgiving. These are all important things to Patty, and she instilled that in her kids.” This view is parroted by Keiran Culkin who claims that he has a great relationship with his mom and owes a lot to her. He says that she has taught him a lot about life, has been a strong mentor, and that she's a wonderful woman. It's great that the kids managed to maintain a relationship with their mother after everything they all went through.

7 Kit Liked To Vanish

When Kieran Culkin was asked about his father in an interview, he explained that his dad would vanish from time to time and was not a good mentor for any of them. He went on by saying, “He’s not a good dude, but he wasn’t really a big part of my life after the age of 15. Sometime in the 90s, he went away and disappeared for two, three weeks, and the babysitter remarked to my mom, ‘You know what’s funny is their father’s been gone for three weeks, and not one of them has said, Hey, where’s Dad?’ Nobody cared, actually. My mom was the parent, so when he wasn’t there it was nicer and better.” Macaulay seems to have the same opinion of his dad, who he wrote about in his novel, Junior.

6 People Were Weird With Macaulay

Macaulay had a very challenging time growing up in the spotlight. Not only was he pushed into an industry of adults without a strong foundation at home, but he experienced a lot of odd encounters with people. His younger brother, Keiran, said that “There were times when he was just a kid walking down the street and people would start surrounding him.”

One time a cab driver recognized Macaulay while he was driving him and Keiran and he preceded to follow them after he dropped them off. There was another occasion where a woman walked right up to him, took his baseball hat off and said, "You're not that cute," then padded away. Apparently, there was no shortage of odd encounters.

5 Shane Was Kit's First Choice

Before Kit Culkin knew that his middle child, Macaulay, would be the biggest star in his family, he actually wanted his eldest son, Shane, to be the actor. Kit sent Shane to an audition at Manhattan's Ensemble Studio Theatre with Macaulay tagging along. It was there that casting directors picked up on the younger sibling and not Shane. This was odd to Kit, who wanted Shane to be the big star as he thought that he had the most potential. However, once Macaulay started to take off, Kit was thrilled and delighted that one of his sons could make something of himself. Although, it seems that Kit was mostly feeling this way for selfish reasons.

4 Kit Blames Patricia For Lack Of Discipline

When couples go through a split as dramatic as the one between Kit and Patricia, there tends to be a lot of finger-pointing. In the case of parenting itself, Kit pointed the finger at Patricia for not being strict enough with all of their kids. Although Kit claims that Patricia is fully responsible for the entire split-up itself, he definitely thinks his children didn't turn out as well as they could have because of her softness with them. He said, 'Her laissez-faire attitude towards their education and welfare is responsible." If we are to believe everything almost everyone else says about Kit, it seems like his hard-nosed approach certainly didn't do any good for his children.

3 All of The Kids Have Nothing To Do With Kit

Although there are decent age-gaps between all of the Culkin kids, they remain very much united in one area; they don't have anything to do with their dad. All of the kids have decided to move away from their father emotionally, while he moved away from them physically. Although the levels of resentment that each person harbors for their dad varies from sibling to siblings, apparently he did enough to them and their mother for them to make such a strong choice. According to the Daily Mail, their father, Kit Culkin, lives a laid back life alone in Oregon. He now is a recluse with a long beard. Perhaps this is what he was destined for after trying to live his life through his successful children.

2 Rory, Keiran, And Macaulay Have Remained Close

Each of the Culkin siblings has gone through a pretty tough time. For example, Shane was the first born and lived in his younger siblings' Hollywood shadows, and then there was Dakota who sadly passed in 2008. But, of course, most of the world focuses on Macaulay, Keiran, and Rory, as they are the three who are most in the public eye. Happily, we can say that the three brothers have remained close throughout the years and were even together at Rory's wedding to cinematographer Sarah Scrivener not too long ago. The three of them continue to bond over their love of acting, wrestling, and the hurdles they've had to leap over together.

1 Macaulay Is Happy To Be Retired Now

Many fans wish that Macaulay would return to acting full-time. Of course, he has appeared in a handful of cameo roles and commercial over the years, but he has yet to star or even co-star in a series or movie. This is because, after Richie Rich, he was thrilled to let go of the acting life and pursue other endeavors... including retired life. Macaulay Culkin had this to say about this very topic: “When I was doing My Girl, they released a couple of hundred bees onto me, actual live bees. I knew that this was not something that every kid was doing. At the same time, it was just another day at the office. I’m pursuing other kinds of things—I’m painting and I’m doing a comedy Web site. I’m writing. I’ve been described by a good friend of mine as ‘a man of leisure.’ I’m essentially a thirtysomething retired person. For me, I feel a certain level of comfort and peace."

Sources: The Telegraph, The Daily Beast,  WTFPod.com, NY Mag, NY Times, Vanity Fair, Den Of The Geek, Screen Rant, News.com.au, Pens And Patron, Belfast Telegraph, Culture Hook