Macaulay Culkin had a martinet for a father.

Kit Culkin, who was also Mac’s manager, was reportedly cruel and domineering to his 7 children, and after Mac became hugely successful, Kit would even use him as a bargaining chip to get roles for his other kids — for instance, “you can’t have Mac in your movie unless you find a role for his sister Quinn”. (Macaulay’s younger brothers Kieran and Rory are also successful actors.)

To Kit Culkin, his children were his meal ticket. Mac has also said he believed his father — an actor himself, yet who never achieved a quarter of the success that Mac did — was jealous of him.

“Everything he ever tried to do in his life, I excelled at before I was 10 years old”, he said in a 2018 interview with the Belfast Telegraph (linked below).

After several box office failures (again negotiated by his father), Mac decided to walk away and try to be a normal teen, rather than his parents’ cash cow.

He says he told them, “I’m done, guys — hope you all made your money, because there is no more coming from me.”

It wasn’t until after he turned 18, and thus was independent from his parents, that he began acting again. (Loved him in Saved!)

While he did have some troubles in his early 20s, now, at 39, he looks great, and seems to be happy and doing well.

He has also been confirmed to be part of the cast of the new season of American Horror Story.