Macaulay Culkin and Brenda Song have been together since 2017, when their mutual friend Seth Green cast them both in his movie Changeland. They are currently enjoying a long engagement and have two children together, sons Dakota, three, and Carson, two. One of my favorite things about them as a couple is how low-key they both are. When I first saw their cover story for Cosmo, I mentioned to a girlfriend that they were together and she had no idea. Speaking of their Cosmopolitan cover story, it’s delightful. They talk about how they met and fell in love, their kids, their careers, and more. The full article is long, but you can read it here. In the meantime, here are some of the highlights:
On the surprise when people find out they’re together: “That the public is like, ‘Wait, they’re together and they have kids?’ Good. That means we did our job,” says Mack. Although, for what it’s worth, the public isn’t the only one raising eyebrows: “There was a point in time where I was like, ‘I must be in a simulation! I have two children with Macaulay Culkin!’” Brenda says, pantomiming her shock.
How Seth Green brought them together: The couple first met in 2014 at actor Seth Green’s house after Dads, Seth and Brenda’s short-lived FOX sitcom, got canceled. Mack happened to be staying at Seth’s and tried to lighten the mood. It didn’t go…great. “He was trying to be funny about our show being canceled and I was not having it,” Brenda says. They both remember her shooting him enough dirty looks that he left the room. (“She was thoroughly unimpressed by me is what I will say,” adds Mack.) But Seth brought them back together in 2017 to film Changeland, an indie he directed and shot in Thailand. At that point, Brenda hadn’t been on a date in almost two years, had frozen her eggs, and wasn’t looking for anything serious. Mack was all “Captain Mack Sparrow,” like the debaucherous Pirates of the Caribbean character. “What, two packs of cigarettes a day?” Brenda asks. Mack nods—yes, that and a red-meat diet.
Mack = ‘very fling-able’: They started playing gin rummy when they weren’t working, and another friend noticed how interested Brenda seemed to be in her costar. “If you’re going to ever have a fling,” Brenda remembers the friend advising, “Mack is a safe person.”
“Mack is very fling-able,” Mack jumps in now.
Dakota: There were other little signs on that trip, small coincidences that seemed at least lovely if not meant to be. In one of those late-night anything goes, “what if?” conversations, Brenda mentioned that if she ever had kids, she liked gender ambiguous names like “Dakota.” Mack was taken aback. “I was like, ‘I’m going to name my firstborn ‘Dakota,’” he remembers. At the time, it was just a hypothetical, but the name was important to him: Dakota was his older sister who died in 2008.
They were both hurting from previous relationships: “We were both very hurt in past relationships and kept expectations low,” explains Brenda. And when they wrapped Changeland, she said goodbye with some version of “See you never.” Mack thinks she was projecting. Brenda says he’s probably right. They kept finding chances to see each other though, soon doing all the dating stuff without really acknowledging it. Brenda had chicken soup dropped off at his house when he was sick and, another time, showed him how to actually do laundry. One night, she cooked him a steak dinner. (“She’s pescatarian,” Mack interjects at this point. “Did you borrow the steak knives?” He describes how it all felt as being continually “punched with her niceness.”)
Brenda on that Hollywood hustle: “I’ve had to hustle my entire life being an Asian American actress in Hollywood. I’ve just always had to be very proactive,” Brenda says. “But,” she continues, turning to Mack, “I feel like you help me chill out, and I help bring out that [fire] in you.” It’s true, Mack nods his head. He’s worked on and off throughout the years but just signed on for season 2 of the drama Fallout on Prime Video. “Brenda is encouraging in a way I’d never been encouraged before.” (“We’re proud of one another!” adds Brenda.)
Their kids: These days, Mack seems totally happy being the homebody dad hanging with his kids, 3-year-old Dakota and 2-year-old Carson, and his not-yet (but one day! maybe!) wife. He’s proud of the fact that their house is the site of every playdate, that he butts heads with his toddler, that he stalks the halls as “Papa T-rex.” They make it work without a nanny and with help from Brenda’s parents. Dakota, nicknamed DakDak, is more like Mack. Sometimes they clash, both parents agree, because they’re so similar. Carson has Brenda’s raspy voice, which Mack impersonates for me, speaking as a 2-year-old who talks like he’s the one smoking two packs a day. “But Carson walks on his tippy-toes, like me,” Mack adds. “And DakDak is a stomper,” Brenda says, “like me.”
Mack’s sweet words during his Walk of Fame star: A little over a year ago, Mack received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as a celebration of his 40-year career. In the front row were Brenda, Dakota, and Carson. Mack teared up as he thanked Brenda. “You’re my champion,” he said, “the only person happier for me today than I am. You’re not only the best woman I’ve ever known, you’re the best person I’ve ever known. You’ve given me all my purpose. You’ve given me family.”
When Macaulay Met Brenda: Their only regret in all this? That it took them a little while to get together at all. “It took me, what, 37 years? 36 years?” asks Mack.
“But it wouldn’t have happened any other way,” Brenda replies. They’re suddenly in full When Harry Met Sally mode, the way couples with decades of marriage experience assure you that all the romantic spinning-out is meaningless. “No, but if I met you 10 years earlier…” Mack begins. Simultaneously: “We would’ve hated each other.”
Macaulay has Brenda’s back: “As I said,” Mack says, “I got your back no matter what. I’ll do whatever you say you want to do. I wasn’t putting the onus on her, but at the same time, I was like, ‘No, I want the things that you want. I’m in this to the end, to the very end.’”
I love these two together. If you have a spare few minutes, I absolutely recommend reading through the full article. They seem very grounded, well-adjusted, and overall, very good for each other. I also love that Mack is so vocal in his support of Brenda, too. It’s sexy when a man is this into and supportive of his partner. I remember when Macaulay was with Rachel Miner and Mila Kunis and no one really knew what was going on with him. After his chaotic childhood and young-adulthood, I bet he loves how chill his life is now. I’m just really happy for both of them and their healthy relationship. I’m rooting for them.
Same – I am so very happy for them both. They both had to deal with childhood stardom, though Mack at a much more extreme level. He did not look well for a few years; I think after his breakup with Mila. I love this very normal Hollywood family.
How wonderful. I think everyone wants good things for him as he’s everyone’s childhood (at least of a certain generation, lol). I’m happy that both him and his brother Kieran seem to have found very happy, healthy relationships despite a very troubled start in life. And not that it’s a competition but.. given who Mila ended up with, I think Mack came out best..
Brenda dated Miley’s older brother for years so I wonder if that’s who’s she’s referring to. She’s been a working actress for years and seems very grounded for Hollywood. Their boys are beautiful and I hope whatever demons Mac had/has due to his over the top childhood fame are in control now.
I’m so happy for him! 🩷🩷🩷
I hope that he invested his money well so that he can afford to be a stay at home dad for awhile, if he wants to do that. I can see him wanting to be the kind of parent that he never got to have.
I never heard of Brenda before; she seems like a sweetheart. The Dakota connection is so cool.
Mack & Kiernan are such a big part of my childhood that I can’t help but root for them, personally & professionally.
They seem cute. Wish them good things.
He sat down with Joe Rogan in 2018 when they were first dating and made a lot of creepy Asian fetishizing comments about her that really rubbed me the wrong way but, they seem cute and if she doesn’t mind then there’s no reason for me to I guess. Wish them the best.
I love them both and think she is astonishingly beautiful. However, was it in good taste to recreate the night-he-was-murdered-Lennon-Ono-Leibowitz photo? Answer: No, it was not.
I am really excited to see him in Fallout 2!
Funny you point that Lennon/Ono photo out. The building he was murdered at was also the Dakota, right?
So sweet! I teared up reading that
@glamarazzi their cover photo here for Cosmo is nothing like the photo of John Lennon and Yoko Ono – that Annie Liebiwtiz took for Rolling Stone. Absolutely nothing like it.