Who is Kit Culkin? ‘Home Alone’ star Macaulay Culkin gets candid about “complicated relationship” with Father’s Day

On June 5, 2024, actor Macaulay Culkin star took to Instagram to post a picture and address his complicated relationship with Father’s Day.

He also uploaded a photo of a "care package" with the post, filled with a Darth Vader-inspired teddy bear and other Star Wars memorabilia. There, he talked about how, despite his past, he is choosing to embrace Father's Day as a father of two.

The Home Alone has always been open about his complicated relationship with his father. When Macaulay began achieving popularity as a child actor, his father Kit Culkin quit his job to oversee his career.

The caption read:

“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 further wrote:

“In our house Father’s Day isn’t held in as a high regard as birthdays or Christmas but it does mop the floor of such holidays as St. Patrick’s day, Valentine’s Day, and the 4th of July.”

He concluded:

“Father’s Day isn’t for me, it’s for the people that make me feel like a father.”

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Kit Culkin is Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin’s estranged father

The Richie Rich star, Macaulay Culkin's father was allegedly abusive (Image via Getty)

Following the box office success of the 1990 film Home Alone, Macaulay Culkin rose to prominence. Nevertheless, he has generally tried to keep his private life out of the public eye.

However, he did appear to be quite candid about his connection with his father. It has been speculated that Kit Culkin cut off all communication with his children permanently, based on remarks Macaulay has made in public in the past. Macaulay spoke openly with New York Magazine in 2001:

“My father was always, you know, abusive, but it didn’t get really, really, really bad until later on.”

Born on December 6, 1944, Kit Culkin was an American theater actor. His father, Philip Harley Culkin, was working in public relations when he first got to know Kit's mother Marian Ethel, a writer; they had four kids — Kit, Candy, Terry, and Bonnie Bedelia.

Kit and his siblings were stagehands in New York City, having worked there since they were 10 years old. During his early career, Kit performed in Broadway theater, where their mother was the manager. Bonnie and Kit played small children during one season of George Balanchine's Nutcracker.

At 15, Culkin performed in shows with numerous other well-known theatrical performers. He also performed in various Broadway productions for 10 years and worked in Becket on Broadway.

Culkin has fathered eight kids. He had Jennifer Adamson, his eldest child when he was dating Adeena VanWagoner. Then he had Shane, Dakota, Macaulay, Kieran, Quinn, Christian, and Rory with Patricia Brentrup. Despite never getting married, Culkin and Brentrup spent 21 years together, from 1974 to 1995. However, they eventually split up in 1995.

Brentrup filed for the custody of their six minor children in 1995 in the New York State Supreme Court. The New York Times reported that Kit opted out of the trial almost two years later and chose not to challenge custody.

Afterward, Culkin lived in Grants Pass, Oregon. On May 31, 2017, following the passing of his longtime companion and friend Jeanette Krylowski, Culkin moved out of his Grants Pass home.

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Macaulay Culkin wrote a note on Instagram for Father's Day

Recently, Macaulay Culkin wrote a note about his complicated relationship with Father's Day. In the same post, he expressed what being a father meant to him and how he loves becoming a father to his children.

Macaulay Culkin opened up about Father's Day on Insta (Image via Getty)

The Richie Rich star continued that although Father's Day wasn't as significant in their household "as birthdays or Christmas," he still tried to "do fun things for the boys on Father's Day."

Nevertheless, even though Macaulay talked about his complicated relationship with Father’s Day, he didn’t reveal the details of his strained relationship with his estranged father in the Instagram post.