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Macaulay Culkin is sharing more about his hiatus from acting
"What I wanted is to be with people my own age," the actor said in a recent interview
Culkin added that, when he stepped away from Hollywood following his starring role in Richie Rich, he just sought some normalcy
Macaulay Culkinis opening up about his hiatus from acting, which he took at age 14.
Speaking on a new episode ofMythical Kitchen, Culkin, 45, said that when he stepped away from acting in 1994, he just wanted a normal life.
"What I wanted is to be with people my own age. You have to remember: a lot of the stuff I did when I was a kid... I'm not doing ensembles. It's me," he said.
"You'll watchHome Alone... and I go, 'Oh my gosh, I'm inCastaway, except he had a volleyball to talk to,'" Culkin added, alluding to the 2000 film starring Tom Hanks as a man forced to live on a deserted island following a plane crash.
He continued: "People will be like, 'Oh, what was it like working with Joe Pesci?' I'm like, 'Have you seen the movie?' We do maybe two scenes together. And then me, in a house, by myself, almost home alone."
Culkin added that, when he stepped away from Hollywood following his starring role inRichie Rich, he just sought some normalcy.
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"I wanted to go out and I wanted to date girls, and I wanted to hang out with people my own age. I wanted to, you know, go to a party. I wanted to do those kind of things. I can't tell you how many Bar Mitzvahs I missed," he laughed.
Of fame, Culkin said, "you can't un-ring that bell, you can't put the toothpaste back in the bell."
"For me, it kind of just happened," he added. "I didn't really do a lot of tugging on my parent's sleeve, saying, 'Mummy, daddy, I want to be famous. I want to do movies.' I kind of just started doing it and I was good at it and I kept booking it."
He said his entry into acting came as a result of his dad wanting to take his older brother and sister to get headshots.
"And my mom just wanted a break and was like, 'Take Mac with you.' Out of the gate — My first audition it was just like, booked, booked, booked," he said. "It's funny, this is a line of work — I didn't find it. It found me. That's kind of why I came back around to it."
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Macaulay was born to parents Christopher Cornelius "Kit" Culkin and Patricia Brentrup. In addition to Macaulay and Kieran, the parents also shared kidsKieran,Rory, Dakota, whodied at 29 in 2008, Quinn, Shane, Christian and Jennifer.
The child actors had a challenging upbringing, as they became estranged from Kit after he and Brentrup separated in 1995 amid Macaulay's rising fame as a child star.
Macaulay has spoken about his strained relationship with his father and has accused Kit of being "physically and mentally " abusive and resentful of his career success.
SpeakingWTF With Marc Maronin 2018, he claimed of his father, "[He said] 'Do good or I'll hit you.' He was a bad man. He was abusive, physically and mentally — I can show you all my scars if I wanted to."
Following his hiatus, Culkin returned to acting with the biographical drama filmParty Monsterin 2003.
Culkin is married to actressBrenda Song. The two have two sons, Dakota and Carson.
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