Macaulay on 2-12-12. Note the Red Bull, which he was also clutching in these other photos
Remember all that madness with Macauley Culkin cutting his controlling dad out of his life as a manager back in the mid 90s? Macauley’s mom and dad separated when he was 14 (they were never married) and there was a big custody battle with Macauley and his six siblings going to his mother. Then Macauley sued his parents for his earnings, moved out, ended up getting married at just 17 and divorced a couple years later. (There’s more about Macauley’s dad here, and Macauley’s past is covered in these articles.) Well it’s been nearly 15 years and Macauley Culkin’s dad hasn’t spoken to his son in all that time. Kit Culkin, 67, recently had a heart transplant, and he’s worried about his son, having seen these recent photos of Macauley looking emaciated and strung out. What’s more is that Kit is so estranged from his family that no one bothered to tell him when his daughter Dakota, then 29, died after being hit by a car in 2008. He had to read about it in the press like everyone else.
No one was more concerned about the actor’s dangerously emaciated appearance than his estranged dad, Christopher ‘Kit’ Culkin, who is secretly terrified that the 31 year-old is headed down a dark, dangerous path. According to a source, a “totally devastated” Kit – who recently survived a risky heart transplant operation – is so distraught, he can barely talk about just how worried he is for his son. “It’s a tragic state of affairs,” reveals the source. “It’s so painful for him.”
It’s doubly painful, explains the source, because “Kit has not seen Mac since 1997” – when he was cut out of his son’s life after being fired as the then-child star’s manager, following a financial dispute. “He has endured so much heartache and betrayal over the years,” adds the source of Kit, 67, who has already buried two children: Macaulay’s half-sister, Jennifer Adamson, who died from a drug overdose in 2000 and his sister Dakota, who was struck and killed by a passing car in 2008.
“When Dakota died, nobody even told Kit – he had to read about it in the media…
“Kit doesn’t want to lose another child before they’ve had a chance to mend their relationship.”
[From In Touch, print edition, March 26, 2012]
This story is probably straight from Kit, because they have a new photo of him looking sad and sporting a mountain man beard. I was feeling sorry for this guy, but then I found this article detailing how he had the cops called on him in the mid 90s, after allegedly abusing Macauley. After that incident, Kit admitted to police to slapping then 16 year-old Macauley for not cleaning his room. Other stories have him not only ruining his son’s career, but being a drunken a**hole, basically. He messed up big time and he’s paying for it now. It’s sad when families are estranged like this, especially when people get sick and lose loved ones. Maybe they can reach some kind of truce at some point, but it sounds like there’s a lot of bad blood in the past.
Macauley looks really sick still and I hope he’s ok. He’s been carrying around a Red Bull in the two sets of recent photos I’ve seen of him. Demi Moore was drinking a lot of Red Bull when she was emaciated. She was abusing Adderall as well. Just saying.
Macauley on 5-18-10
Header photo credit: Diane Cohen/FameFlynet Pictures. Other photos credit Brian Flannery/FlynetPictures.com
While I do think it’s awful that nobody bothered to tell him his daughter was dead I also think it’s awful how he is using his illness to try and worm his way back into Mcauley’s life. I’m not saying they can never make it up but in most cases like these the reason the celebs estranged family member has spoken out is for the money they’ve been paid not to get connected with their relation, If he really wanted to re connect he’d be better off doing it in private.
Also I was so shocked by those picks of McAuley, He looks like he’s put a little weight back on so hopefully he’s on the mend from whatever problems he has.
I strongly believe that anyone with this delusional opinion has either never been or never known anyone in a dysfunctional family. And if you have, then you should know that some titles are earned.
Wow, this is all really sad to read. I remember reading about this awhile back. I do not know the whole story, but I was estranged from my dad for about eight years because he left my mom, while she was in the hospital, for his mistress. He was never violent or abusive in any way shape or form but my mom did not deserve that.
After some meddling by my mom, my father and I made peace and it took time but we are now in a better place. My mom and he have made peace as well. I hope for MC’s sake that his dad is in a better place and perhaps they can forge a new relationship.
On to his appearance, he looks pretty beat down I really hope he is not going down a dark path we are losing too many talented people to bad habits. I know a lot of people only know him for Home Alone franchise but he did this movie called Monster based on the Club Kids of New York City. He was the guy that wound up killing his drug dealer, Angel and burying him in his wall or something like that. MC did a great job in that role and I was so lost in the story and his charachtaer that I completely forget the persona of Home Alone. But you never know, kid may just have the flu. I hope that is all it is.
That was a very interesting movie and the documentary was good too. Sad and sorry tale of drug abusers and how it can seem normal to someone lost in a drug warped crowd of friends to kill and dump another human being. He was good in the role. Too bad he hasn’t been working as I think he could salvage himself and his career if he were motivated to do so.
Just because he’s drinking a Red Bull doesn’t mean he’s abusing stimulants. That sort of speculation seems unnecessary.
Duly noted, and I appreciate how nicely you worded that. I’ll rephrase that part.
I remember from the ’90s he had a lot of problems with his parents who were greedy, so It doesn’t sound strange to me he has estranged himself from his father.
He is so twerpy looking! I think he is a very talented actor, however, and I’m sorry his career didn’t take off. I feel badly for child actors, males especially. Being small and young looking is what makes them famous as kids, as in, they can play younger characters. But being small and cute does not work for adults, at least not for the men. Yes, you have Leonardo and NPH but most of them just can’t make it.
This is why children should not become stars. Its tragic and sad. There should be a law and Justin Bieber can play all the child parts both male and female.
Another example of why parents shouldn’t be their kids managers.
The whole situation is really sad, but I have to think if the entire family cut him off that severely, they had good reason to do so.
He has suffered from pretty severe agoraphobia; I think we are shocked by these photos because we rarely see him but he has been this gaunt looking for the past little while. He has really not looked healthy since the split with Mila.
Wow, I checked out the photo link. Macauley looks more like 61 than 31. Geez. Either anorexia or drugs…not much else would explain it, so it’s sad. No wonder his father is worried, although if he was that worried you would think he’d have bothered to contact him in the past 15 years. Gee I wonder why Macauley is f*&$&d up?
We don’t know if his father hasn’t tried to contact his son. I think it is more likely that he has tried, but with no success.
I hope the loss of weight is for some movie role and not drug abuse. He looks horrible though. He has the skin of a 75 year old recluse. These pictures are painful to see.
Looks alot like Meth…..or heroin..either way, it’s bad. Drugs suck, period, end of story. You think by now people should know how using drugs turns out. They ruin so many lives. I pray for this guy, that’s all I can do. 🙁
Those parents made the Lohan’s seem like good parents!
Mac looks normal in these photos to me. Or at least much much better than the last set. He has a pretty stringy build.
For whatever reason I don’t think drugs are playing any role in this. That’s just my opinion. However, as someone else previously noted he’s been looking pretty rough since his breakup with Mila. There have been murmurs of him having mental health issues (I believe his ex-wife said as much) for a long time. I don’t mind calling people out on drug addiction but if it is mental health, I tend to back off because I think people deserve privacy to deal with these matters.
As far as Kit goes, I can’t feel sorry for the guy. Actions have consequences and the amount of abuse Macauley and his siblings endured at the hands of their father has been documented. Kit did much to put himself in the situation he is in now and while I do believe in forgiveness I also believe adult survivors of child abuse have to do what’s in their best interests when it comes to dealing with their abusive parent. If Macauley and his siblings have made the choice to have no contact than that is in their best interest and that decision needs to be respected.
Many people with mental health issues self medicate with drugs or alcohol to help them deal with their symptoms. It’s very common.
I think he looks high in these pics.
I do too.
I love him. Always have, always will. I would marry the man.
I tend to believe it’s mental health issues rather than drugs. He has a history of it and being a bipolar sufferer myself I know how it can make your weight yoyo depending on medication and moods (that really affect your ability to eat). My own parents even asked me if I was addicted to drugs after getting painfully thin during one if my recent extended episodes.
But seriously. Mac and me. It’s gonna happen. 🙂
One of the main drawbacks of bipolar meds is that they decrease the metabolism and people tend to gain weight.
Yup. They also have a lot of indirect side effects. The war against dry mouth is a Sisyphian one. Tons of water, sugarless gum, brushing, flossing and rinsing with fluoridated products didn’t stem the tide of tooth decay. That’s the other most common side effect. I didn’t have to deal with weight gain, those some people who I know very, very well did. Lithium has rewarded my due dilligence with a raging case of swamp mouth. I’ve had five surgeries since the beginning of February and I’m not done. At least weight loss is free. Surgery (pardon my French) sure as fuck isn’t. So, I guess the cure’s worse than the disease. And this is coming from a person who–despite jaw and bite abnormalities and ongoing orthodontic treatment to keep them somewhat in check for the last 20 years–had never so much as had a cavity.
You don’t want bi-polar disorder, folks. You really don’t. Especially if you’re in any way involved in the arts. Ugh. It gets so romanticized, this ‘suffering for your art’. Sorry, this ain’t The Sorrows Of Young Werther, it’s just misfortune fixing its jaundiced eye on you. No highwayman with lace and roses and ‘stand and deliver’, it’s more like getting mugged and roughed up in the stinking alleys.
Sometimes you can look downright ghoulish, especially when it’s related to your medication and I actually hope that’s what’s going on with him instead of something more sinister because at least you know it cycles and there’s hope and resources that help to you remember that illness is something against which you should want to fight, because Lord knows, sometimes you need to be told, outright and explicity.
Just a few days ago I was flying out of LA and my mom and I met the kid who plays Jake on 2 and a half men, he was heading to Hawaii in economy with his band from high school to play at pearl harbor. He is also attending a Christian High School.(they announced that over the pa on the plan, I’m not that nosey to ask.) He was with his mom, who was so nice, so was he. My mom and were saying how parents are so key in how child actors handle there fame.
I don’t know if this is true or not, but someone told me, that the kid who plays jake is the highest paid kid actor on a sitcom. Good to hear that he is an average kid with a normal mom.
I heard that to, that’s why i think it’s so awesome how normal he seems. He seemed embarrassed we recognized him. You don’t know how bad I wanted to ask about Charlie Sheen. And his mom chatted with us the whole time we were waiting to board.
That’s a nice story. I don’t watch the show, but I always wondered about the level of professionalism on set under the old regime and what it would take to untwist that boy’s brain. I’m only an aunt, not a mother, and I couldn’t think of a reason as to why they should have to be around that guy. Granted, my niece and nephew are little more than babies–or maybe they are to me.
OMG – in that first photo in the link he looks like he could be Willem Dafoe’s grandfather!
Am i the only one who sees a perfectly normal looking guy in the pictures with the barber. He looks awful in the first paparazzi photos, but maybe he just had a bad day, cause he looks fine to me in the onther one.
totally agree, but most are just speculating with care and concern. i am a fan myself.
He’s a scaled back, male Lindsay Lohan. His family was nutty in the 90’s. He has always had that pale, kind of wan, look even as a kid.
Drug speculation seems unfair, so maybe depression. Given that he started looking like this after the split with Mila, it seems a reasonable guess.
OT, but I am in love with that military-type jacket he is wearing. It would probably fit me, too…
Some people have no idea how awful some other people’s parents are. Just because someone puts on a sad story doesn’t mean that you should 1. believe them 2. do anything to help them or to communicate with them.
his parents were the original lohans back in the early 90’s. they took on the legacy created by joe jackson and who knows who before him. i feel so sorry for the kid and still can’t believe we’re the same age. he looks like a homeless alcoholic.
I’m wondering how an alcoholic and heavy smoker scored a new heart?!? They don’t come cheap or easy and I’d say he’d be towards the last in line, he’s not David Crosby after all. I’m sure he used as a pitch that he was the loving father of 7, using the kids right up to to the end game. I kind of in shock Kit qualified at all.
Boo f@%&ing Hoo!!!!
I wish MC well, whatever it is.
Regarding organ transplants, they no longer consider whether a patient “led a bad lifestyle” in making decisions as to who gets an organ. They used to factor in things like prior drinking habits, etc. but it was felt that was too subjective.
So now they rate patients strictly on measurable things like their oxygenation levels and things like that. And of course, they don’t want the patient to be drinking and smoking.
It must be really hard for him to not have any ties with a parent, those things can really hurt a person’s self esteem no matter how strong you are. On top of that Mila Kunis left him, I think he is having a real rough time, I hope he seeks help.
His cure (and ours) is Mila Kunis! He was great with her. Let’s not forget he was great friends with Michael Jackson. He was like a father figure for him.