Macaulay Culkin has opened up about his relationship with his parents, in particular, his father, as he claims he abused him at the height of his fame.
Macaulay has been living in France for the last four years, and is enjoying his new lifestyle. He decided to move there after travelling around Europe for a few months and falling in love with the culture and people.
He joined Marc Maron on his podcast WTF, to discuss life as a child star and his rise to fame.
He also opened up about the treatment he received from his father throughout the process. Macaulay said:
“I was an afterthought, it was my older brother who he wanted to be an actor and dancer… and it was kind of like, well just take Mac (Macauley) along, let’s see what happens. Next thing you know, I’m booking every gig.
I was never tight with him (his father) to begin with. My concept of a father is almost one of those things you get from TV shows and movies, rather than having affection for a father.”
He said that he had achieved everything his father wanted for himself by the time he was 10 years old, and always felt that he was jealous of him.
Commenting on how his father treated him 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.”
Eventually, the whole situation led to Macaulay quitting acting for most of his teen years and he’s only recently getting back into it.
“I even wanted to take a break for a while and eventually I was like ‘I’m done guys, hope you all made your money because there is no more coming from me.”
Macaulay famously won a court case against his parents when he was just 15 years of age, which meant that they lost the status of his legal guardian, and subsequently lost control of his $17 million fortune.
Since then he has had no contact with his father but still sees his mother who lives on a ranch with her new husband.