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Macaulay Culkin’s relationship with his two sons helped reshape his opinion on Father’s Day after growing up with an allegedly abusive father.
On Instagram Wednesday, the 43-year-old actor shared a photo of a “Star Wars”-themed Father’s Day gift basket he received, which got him thinking about the upcoming holiday.
“If you know a little about me then you’d know I’ve had a complicated relationship with Father’s Day in the past,” he wrote. “But since becoming a papa myself I’ve decided to reinvent the wheel.”
The actor told his Instagram followers Wednesday that he has “a complicated relationship” with the holiday. Instagram/@culkamania However, he reshaped the day to focus more on his two sons than himself. Variety via Getty ImagesRather than making the day all about him, the “Home Alone” star made it a “celebration” of his sons, Dakota, 3, and Carson, 1 — whom he shares with longtime partner, Brenda Song.
“After all, they are the ones who made me a father (no offense to Brenda),” he joked.
Although he still doesn’t hold Father’s Day in a “high regard,” Culkin keeps the “special day” focused on doing “fun things for the boys.”
“Father’s Day isn’t for me, it’s for the people that make me feel like a father,” he concluded.
The “Home Alone” star dedicates the day to doing “fun things” with his sons. Instagram/@culkamania “Father’s Day isn’t for me, it’s for the people that make me feel like a father,” he explained. Instagram/@culkamaniaCulkin said during a 2018 interview with Marc Maron that life with his estranged father, Kit Culkin, was “sour from early on, even before the fame stuff.”
The former child actor claimed his father was abusive and threatened violence if he didn’t do as he was told.
“He was abusive, physically and mentally — I can show you all my scars if I wanted to,” he said.
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“He was jealous,” he later added. “Everything that he tried to do in his life, like, I excelled at before I was 10-years old.”
The “My Girl” star, who hasn’t spoken to his father in over 25 years, explained that his “concept of a father” was formed on “TV shows and movies” due to his dad’s lack of affection.
During an interview with New York Magazine in 2001, Macaulay claimed that the patriarch — who was also his manager — used to make him “sleep on the couch” just “because he could.”
“He beat our spirits down,” he recalled. “You really just had to be there to see what kind of a man he was.”
Macaulay claimed in 2018 that his dad, who was also his manager, was both physically and mentally abusive. Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images While his relationship with his dad was poor even before his fame, it worsened over time. Getty ImagesMacaulay and his six siblings grew up in poverty — sharing a one-bedroom apartment at East 94th Street and Second Avenue in Manhattan — before he eventually made it big for the family.
However, being the breadwinner added even more strain on the pair’s relationship and the “Richie Rich” star eventually emancipated from his parents at 16.
Macaulay’s brother, Kieran, has an equally sour relationship with their father, whom he previously called “not a good person.”
Following his emotional Emmys win in January, the “Succession” star had nothing but praise for his mother — and the opposite for his dad.
Macaulay also claimed the patriarch was very controlling. Instagram/@culkamania “He beat our spirits down,” Macaulay said. Instagram/@culkamania“She’s just an absolutely wonderful woman who took on raising seven kids in a studio apartment, by herself,” he said of his mom, Patricia Brentrup.
“There was a guy there — he didn’t do anything,” he added of Kit.
Similarly, Kieran told the Hollywood Reporter in 2021 that Kit “wasn’t a good person” and “probably not a good parent.”
“I never looked at him as Dad,” he said. “He didn’t really belong here, and when he was finally gone for good, it made the most sense.”
