Speaking on the December 29 episode of the SmartLess podcast, the 45-year-old actor addressed his long-strained relationship with his father, Kit Culkin, who managed his career during his childhood fame. When asked whether he still keeps in touch with his parents, Culkin replied that his relationship with his father had always been extremely tense. “The moment I was able to push him out of my life, my day-to-day quality of living improved immediately,” he said.

Kit Culkin, now 81, served as Macaulay’s manager in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the young actor became one of Hollywood’s biggest child stars through blockbuster films such as Home Alone and My Girl. At the time, Macaulay was the primary breadwinner in a struggling family with seven children.

Culkin recalled that while he earned enormous sums as a child and technically could “play video games all day and do nothing,” acting eventually stopped being enjoyable. He said he felt overworked, burned out, and deprived of any real control over his own life. By age 14, he decided to step away from acting altogether, believing he had already made enough money and left his mark.

“I told them I was exhausted, but no one listened,” he said, adding that the pressure took a serious toll on his mental health. Once he gained independence, Culkin chose to live a more ordinary life during his teenage years, embracing experiences typical of his peers and distancing himself from Hollywood.

In adulthood, Culkin has largely maintained a low-profile lifestyle, describing himself as “basically retired” from acting, only taking on projects that truly interest him. He recently lent his voice to Zootopia 2 and made a brief appearance in the Netflix series Running Point. Today, he prioritizes family life with his fiancée, Brenda Song, and their two young sons.

Culkin has previously spoken openly about alleged physical and emotional abuse by his father. In a 2018 interview, he said he could still show scars from his childhood. In a more recent conversation with Deadline, he confirmed he has no intention of reconnecting, noting that none of his siblings or even Kit Culkin’s grandchildren maintain contact with him.

His younger brother, Kieran Culkin, has echoed similar sentiments, describing their father as “not a good person” in past interviews, while praising their mother, Patricia Brentrup, for raising seven children on her own.