Kieran Cullkin says he felt bad for brother Macaulay even as a child amid ‘Home Alone’ fame

"He was little and having to try to accept that level of fame as a reality"

Kieran Culkin said he felt bad for his brother Macaulay, even when they were children, after he became famous at the age of 10 for his role in Home Alone

Kieran is currently starring in HBO’s Succession as Roman Roy and spoke to Esquire about the impact his brother’s fame had not only on Macaulay himself, but the whole family.

“Poor fucking guy,” Kieran said of his brother. “He was little and having to try to accept that level of fame as a reality. Even at that time, as a kid, I remember thinking, ‘That sucks for him’.”

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Kieran also appeared in Home Alone as Fuller, the cousin of Macaulay’s protagonist Kevin, who has to defend his family’s home from robbers after his parents accidentally leave him behind on holiday. Kieran was eight years old at the time.

Macaulay Culkin
Macaulay Culkin. CREDIT: Taylor Hill/WireImage

The level of fame Macaulay acquired from the film turned the family into a particular target for the paparazzi, particularly after the brothers’ parents split up acrimoniously in 1995. Kieran, then thirteen, handwrote a note to the court requesting to bar the media from covering the custody battle.

“Your Honor,” he wrote, “I ask you please to spare my family any further embarrassment by letting the press in the courtroom. It has already been hard on us and I see no point to it.” His plea, however, was denied. Macaulay now refuses to speak with Access Hollywood, thanks to the prior coverage of his family, and the New York Post.

Elsewhere, Kieran also recently revealed what happened to Roman’s wife and child in the series. They were seen in the pilot episode of the HBO series, which first aired in 2018, but haven’t been since after showrunner Jesse Armstrong decided not to explore that detail further.

He then admitted “it was a little disappointing” for the show to go in a different direction. “But I think the idea was that it would just give them more freedom to play with the character,” Culkin said, adding: “They had mentioned to me, even before we shot the pilot, about questioning what Roman’s sexuality is – and we don’t know what it is.

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“But it put something in my brain, and I was like, ‘OK, but I’m married and have kids?’”

 

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