Macaulay Culkin Says His Dad Taught Him Important Parenting Lesson Prior to 30-Year Estrangement

• Macaulay Culkin says his strained experience with his dad Christopher “Kit” Culkin taught him what not to do as a parent
• Macaulay shares sons Dakota and Carson with his fiancée Brenda Song
• After cutting ties with Kit nearly 30 years ago, Macaulay says he hasn’t spoken to his father since

Macaulay Culkin’s estranged relationship with his dad has taught him a lot about being a father to his own two children. 

The 44-year-old actor and former child star has previously been candid about his early struggles with his father, former stage actor Christopher “Kit” Culkin, and in a new interview, revealed the impact his dad has had on his own parenting. 

“It’s one of my earliest memories of him was [thinking], ‘When I grew up, this is how I’m not gonna be with my kids,’ “ the Home Alone star shared on the Monday, March 31 episode of the Sibling Revelry podcast with Kate Hudson and Oliver Hudson. 

Macaulay, who shares sons, Dakota, almost 4, and Carson, 2, with his fiancée Brenda Song, noted that when he welcomed his children, his past contentious relationship with his father was at the forefront of his mind. 

“Now that I have kids of my own, it’s like, you know, it kicks up some dust,” he said. “I kinda go, you know, like, I can’t believe he was like that. He had all these lovely kids. It’s crazy.”

Sharing that he hasn’t spoken to his own father in about 30 years, Macaulay added, “Oh, he deserves it too. Yeah. He’s a man who, he had seven kids, and now he has four grandkids. Yeah. And, none of them want anything to do with him.”

The father of two said that if he were in that position, he would think he’d done something wrong, but claimed, “I have more than an inkling that he does not feel that way.” 

Calling his dad “narcissistic,” Macaulay echoed past claims, saying Kit was “abusive.” He recalled the childhood custody battle between Kit and Macaulay’s mother Patricia Brentrup, saying, “I wanted nothing to do with my f—— father. Like, he was just the worst.”

When the judge said Macaulay “had to do visits” with Kit, the child star planned to play his fame card. 

“I told my lawyer, I said, ‘Yeah, I’m not doing that.’ He said, ‘Well, you know, you’ll be in contempt of court and this and that.’ I go, ‘Okay. Well, how about this? I dare the judge to put me in jail for not wanting to visit [my] abusive father. I actually I’m gonna double down on that. I double dare him to arrest the most famous kid in the world,” Macaulay recalled. 

Kit had a brief stage acting career in the ‘60s and managed Macaulay in his early years. The former actor has been mostly reclusive since severing ties with his ex and their seven kids. But in 2016, he gave a rare statement to the Daily Mail, saying of Macaulay, “I don’t consider him a son anymore.” 

In 2018, Macaulay accused Kit of being “physically and mentally” abusive and resenting his career success on the WTF With Marc Maron podcast. 

“[He said] ‘Do good or I’ll hit you.’ He was a bad man. He was abusive, physically and mentally — I can show you all my scars if I wanted to,” Macaulay said at the time. “Everything he tried to do in life, I excelled at before I was 10 years old.”

Kit’s late partner, Jeanette Krylowski, denied that he was abusive to any of his children, telling New York Magazine in 2001 that Brentrup lied to their kids to alienate them from their father.

“My analysis is [that] she was the only one not getting famous and she felt left behind,” Krylowski said at the time. “The kids do what Mom tells them to, because through the years, Mom had said, ‘Your father doesn’t love you, your father doesn’t love you.’ ”

As for his life today, Macaulay shared on Sibling Revelry that he’s “in a really great place,” adding, “I feel really good. I’m probably in the best place of my entire life.” 

When asked if he and Song would consider having more children, Macaulay replied, “Oh, we’ll see about that. Well, you know, we always take the can down the road, you know, and so we should talk about it next year, that kind of thing, you know. Obviously, right now, we’re actually in a spot where we actually have some really great stability. Both kids are in preschool right now. And we have a good routine. Brenda really starting to feel like herself again.”

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.