Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin has revealed why he has not spoken to his father, retired stage actor Kit Culkin, in about 30 years.

Macaulay catapulted to stardom at the age of 10 in the first Home Alone picture in 1990, instantly eclipsing his father in terms of fame and success.

In 1995, Macaulay’s parents split up, triggering an explosive custody battle over their lucrative son, who ultimately went to court to have their names removed from his trust fund and an executor appointed in their place.

Now, aged 44, he describes himself as mainly ‘retired,’ while his brother Kieran Culkin is the more active actor and won an Oscar last month.

Neither of the two brother is currently speaking to Kit, nor are any of their six other siblings, Macaulay sensationally disclosed.

He has shed fresh light on the rift between him and his ‘narcissistic,’ ‘abusive’ father, on the podcast Sibling Revelry With Kate Hudson And Oliver Hudson.

Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin has revealed why he has not spoken to his father, retired stage actor Kit Culkin, in nearly 30 years; pictured in 2023 

Macaulay noted his father has become a model for him for how not to raise his sons Dakota, three, and Carson, two, whom he shares with his fiancée Brenda Song. 

‘It’s one of my earliest memories of him was: “When I grow up, this is how I’m not going to be with my kids.” And now that I got kids of my own, it makes me even more, it kicks up some dust that I kinda go: “I can’t believe he was like that,”’ said Macaulay. 

When he was a child, living in a one-bedroom apartment with his parents and all his children, his father propelled him into showbiz. 

‘He had all these lovely kids, and talented kids too. And the thing is, he had a certain amount of resentment towards me, I think is what it was, it’s ‘cause he wanted to be an actor and he kinda did some stuff,’ Macaulay recalled.

He noted his father worked on Broadway and in ballet, ‘then all of a sudden he has this kid that didn’t look anything like him, to be honest. I look a lot like my mother. I don’t look like him,’ he observed.

‘And I right out of the bat just was, like I instantly got the lead stuff in the ballet company, I instantly booked all these things like that, and I think he resented me for that kind of stuff. I think he hated me a little bit for that, and so I think that’s why he was a little bit harsh with me.’

Macaulay recalled ‘butting heads’ with his father when he was young, describing him as a ‘bad man’ and saying: ‘I would take his whoopings and stuff like that, but it was – I knew, the whole time I was sitting there, going: “Oh, I’m gonna win at the end.”’

Kit managed Macaulay’s career in the early years of his stardom – and only during the custody battle did Macaulay realize he was worth $50 million.

Macaulay is pictured with his parents Kit and Patricia Culkin and his brother Kieran in London in 1990, in the early years of his stardom 

Macaulay catapulted to stardom at the age of 10 in the first Home Alone picture, instantly eclipsing his father in terms of fame and success 

He ultimately went to court to remove both of his parents’ names from his trust fund, after they had pocketed 15% of his earnings. 

Macaulay has now shared that ‘during the whole custody thing, I wanted nothing to do with my f***ing father. Like he was just the worst, and the judge was like: “Well, you have to do visitations with him.”‘

Being a self-described ‘smart-a**,’ he declared that he had no intention of visiting his father – a decision his lawyer told him would be regarded as contempt of court.

‘I go: “Okay, well how about this? I dare the judge to put me in jail for not wanting to visit his abusive father,”’ Macaulay remembered. 

‘And I also, I actually doubled down on that. “I double dare him to arrest the most famous kid in the world” And I never played that card, but that was the one time I kinda played that card.’

Macaulay noted Kit has become a model for how not to raise his sons Dakota, three, and Carson, two, whom he shares with Brenda Song; pictured with Brenda and Dakota in 2023 

In 2001, after Macaulay had quit acting, he shared that he used to plead with his father to allow him to take a break from work only to be rebuffed.

‘My father was jealous of me,’ he told New York magazine. ‘He was a bad man. He was abusive. Everything he tried to do in life, I excelled at before I was 10 years old.’ 

A few years ago, Macaulay told comedian and podcast host Marc Maron that his father would compel him to act well with the threat of physical violence.

‘[He said], “Do good or I’ll hit you.” He was a bad man,’ Macaulay said on WTF. ‘He was abusive, physically and mentally – I can show you all my scars if I wanted to.’ 

Macaulay has recalled Kit making him sleep on the sofa or stay up all night running lines, as a way of attempting to ‘break my spirit’ as a child.

‘He wanted me to know to know that he was in charge and if he didn’t want us to sleep on a bed, we weren’t gonna sleep on a bed,’ Macaulay told ABC News.