Fame
Macaulay Culkin has a face almost everyone recognises. Catching his big break in the early 90s, the youngster became one of the most well-known child stars of all time.
Appearing as young Kevin in festive favourite Home Alone aged just nine years old, he was paid $110,000 for the first one, going on to then earn more for the sequel.
His success went on to catapult further with the classic My Girl in 1991 and then his appearance in the psychological thriller film The Good Son in 1993.
Culkin as Kevin in Home Alone (Disney / Fox)
The money earned from his impressive acting credits then got put into a trust fund. However, at one point, he ended up taking his parents’ names off it, which led to some claims that Culkin was ‘divorcing’ himself from them.
He later revealed this was because his mother was spending so much on legal fees during his parents’ separation that she was left unable to pay her rent.
Culkin’s parents were never actually married, but there was a legal battle over who would get the kids and what would happen to Macaulay’s money, and the young actor could see his mum struggling to pay for the essentials when he had a fund of millions.
To sort this out, he had both parents taken off the trust. Without them on the fund, he could get an executor to sort out money matters for him.
Culkin previously told Esquire all about it, explaining that he and his siblings ‘didn’t want to go with my father’.
He said: “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.
Culkin had the names of his parents taken off his trust fund, but he did it to help his mum pay rent. (Anna Webber/Variety via Getty Images)
“It’s always misconstrued, that I ‘emancipated’ myself from my parents.
“I legally took my parents’ names off of my trust fund and found an executor, someone who would look over my finances, just in case anyone wanted to stick their f**king pinkie in the pie.
“But the next thing you know, the story was that I divorced my parents.
“I just thought I was doing it cleanly – taking my father’s name off, taking my mom’s name off, so my opinion is unbiased. And when I did that, the whole thing kinda ended a lot faster.”
Your faves are doing alright these days, which is nice to see. (Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)
These days, Culkin, now aged 46, is still acting and is now also doing voiceover work. There is even speak of a possible and very nostalgic return to the Home Alone story.
His recent credits include the voice of Cattrick Lynxley in Zootropolis 2, playing Lacerta Legate in the second season of the Fallout show and having playful cameos in the Netflix series Running Point, starring his wife Brenda Song.
He got together with The Suite Life of Zack and Cody star Brenda Song after they both met on the set of Changeland, and since getting together, they’ve welcomed two children.