Kieran Culkin hasn't talked to estranged father Kit Culkin for years as he backs brother Macaulay by admitting Kit is not a good person and not really welcomed in the Culkin house.
- Oct 8, 2021
AceShowbiz - Kieran Culkin doesn't think his father is a "good person" and never felt he "belonged" in the family household.
But the "Succession" actor has insisted he didn't share the same "crazy, negative, awful, traumatic experiences as a child actor" around Kit Culkin as his brother, "Home Alone" star Macaulay, who emancipated himself from his parents when he was 15 after accusing his dad of being abusive.
However, Kieran acknowledges that his father was not a welcome presence at the Culkin home.
"He wasn't a good person and, yeah, probably not a good parent," he admits. "He didn't really bathe. He just reeked. I remember thinking, 'I guess all dads smell awful.' "
Kit once went missing for three weeks, with neither Kieran nor his six siblings commenting on his absence at the time, and all the children were relieved when their parents finally split up in 1995.
Kieran tells The Hollywood Reporter, "I never looked at him as dad. He didn't really belong here, and when he was finally gone for good, it made the most sense."
In 2014, Kit travelled from Oregon to see Kieran perform in "This Is Our Youth" on Broadway, and their backstage meeting was the first time the 39-year-old actor had seen his father - whose mobility and speech had been affected by a major stroke - in 17 years.
He recalls, "He carried cards around with him that said, 'I'm not stupid. I understand you. I just had a stroke.' "
"He was telling me that his girlfriend had dementia and it was pretty bad. And so I said, 'So, when you guys go places, she doesn't know where you're going and you can't communicate how you're getting there.' And he goes, 'Yeah - we're quite a pair.' "
They haven't spoken since, with Kieran saying of his dad's visit, "F**k him. I don't care."
Despite his tense relationship with Kit, Kieran gets on better with his stepfather, who his mother Patricia married a decade ago.
"He's nice to me," he confesses. "He gave me a horse."
