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“Succession” star Kieran Culkin has officially grown into a major Hollywood presence, maybe even eclipsing his close older brother Macaulay Culkin’s “Home Alone” fame. The Emmy award-winning and Golden Globe-winning actor lands right in the middle of the seven Culkin children born to Kit Culkin and his partner Patricia Brentrup, who never formally married but who guided their children toward the spotlight. Kit was a Broadway actor who imparted (or forced, but more on that below) his love of the profession to his many children as he infamously transitioned from working on his own career to managing theirs, leading Macaulay to success only to be forced out of the family picture before Kieran’s accomplishments.
While Kieran is now a father with two kids of his own and has been happily married to Jazz Charton for over a decade, many of Kieran’s struggles stem from his father’s turbulent showbiz relationship with his family. According to the Irish Times, it all came to an end when his father lost the kids in a contentious custody battle where Kit looked at them more as clients than kids, with Kieran telling the outlet, “It was about the custody of the five kids then under 18, and that’s all. But his main concern was that he could be our manager. He was OK with losing custody, if he could still be our manager.” Despite Kieran becoming a household name due to his irreverent and oftentimes foul-mouthed behavior, his life has been filled with as many tragedies as triumphs before making it to Hollywood’s highest peaks.
They grew up poor in a tiny apartment
Seven kids and two parents living in a small four-room New York City apartment sounds like a sitcom, but for Kieran Culkin and the rest of his family, it was the real-life. Kieran told CBS Sunday Morning, “Whenever the door would open to let the kids in, I used to stand aside and make sure, and I used to count to make sure all six of them got in before I got in.” Kieran’s older brother Macaulay Culkin told New York Magazine that their childhood home was “basically one long hallway separated by doorways with no doors,” then remarked, “I guess we couldn’t afford doors or something.”
The family grew up poor. Casting director Billy Hopkins, who was responsible for launching Macaulay’s career when he got him his first role, told New York Magazine, “They were so poor I had to use my own money to make sure that [Macaulay] got to and from rehearsal … Macaulay would crawl under the bleachers at the theater to look for change that had fallen out of people’s pockets. They were like the Beverly Hillbillies.” Speaking of that, maybe Kieran still has some hillbilly in him — remember when he didn’t name his son for seven weeks? Regardless, Kieran’s mother, Patricia Brentrup, spoke to the Telegraph about their hard times, saying, “We went through the hungry years, the struggling, and when we became successful I thought we’d just sit back, enjoy it and relax.” But she tragically reflected on how fame affected the family’s relationships, saying, “Instead, we were happier living hand-to-mouth, and that’s what’s so hard. We don’t get to enjoy what the whole family worked for together.”
His father was physically and mentally abusive
Kieran Culkin’s older brother, Macaulay Culkin, gave the untold truth about his family when he wrote his memoir “Junior” and revealed that their father, Kit Culkin, was both physically and mentally abusive towards him, which resulted in him filing a legal action to remove his parents from his trust fund and then pulling the plug on his career when he was only 15 years old. However, in speaking with The Hollywood Reporter in 2021, Kieran was firm in saying that Kit did not physically or mentally abuse him, saying his experience did not match his older brother’s “crazy, negative, awful, traumatic experiences as a child actor.”
With that being said, Kieran also alluded to the fact that when they were growing up, the kids felt much more at ease when their father was not around, with Kit one time leaving for three weeks with not a single kid saying a word about his prolonged absence. After Kit finally exited their lives for good, Kieran bluntly told 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.” And, when his father reportedly visited Kieran during his 2014 run of “This Is Our Youth” on Broadway, Kieran was asked by the outlet if he was moved by his father showing up to watch him, to which Kieran responded by saying, “F**k him. … I don’t care.”
He lost his sister Dakota in a tragic car accident
Tragedy struck when Kieran Culkin’s 29-year-old sister, Dakota Culkin, was hit and killed by a car in 2008. According to People, she was crossing the street in Marina Del Rey in Los Angeles when she was struck and later died from massive head trauma. There was no foul play involved, with ABC News reporting that the LAPD stated: “The driver stopped, rendered aid, and identified himself as required by law. Detectives have determined that the driver was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, so no crime was committed.”
Kieran gave a rare comment on her tragic death to “CBS Sunday Morning,” saying, “I only knew who I was because of who my siblings are. So, to lose one was losing a big piece of myself.” But Dakota’s spirit lived on in some of Kieran’s performances as Roman Roy, with him saying, “After a couple of seasons on ‘Succession,’ I realized there was some stuff that Roman did that I was like, ‘Oh, that’s my sister.'” He fondly recalled, “That was her sense of humor. She could find exactly what the right thing to make fun of you was that would get to you but be really funny and make the room laugh. That was her.” Sadly, Dakota wasn’t the only sibling that Kieran lost. Kieran also lost his half-sister Jennifer Adamson to a drug overdose in 2000, with Adamson being the daughter of Kit Culkin’s earlier partner, Adeena VanWagoner.
He shared a bed with Michael Jackson
A dark chapter from Kieran Culkin’s past was overturned during British journalist Martin Bashir’s interview with Michael Jackson for ABC’s “20/20.” In the 2003 interview, Jackson told Bashir, “I have slept in a bed with many children. I slept in a bed with all of them. When Macaulay Culkin was little. Kieran Culkin would sleep on this side, Macaulay Culkin was on this side. … We all would just jam in the bed.” Years later, in the 2019 documentary “Leaving Neverland,” James Safechuck and Wade Robson alleged that Jackson sexually abused them as children, opening up renewed speculation about what went on at Jackson’s Neverland Ranch.
The documentary’s startling revelation cast Jackson’s 2003 comments about Kieran in a dark, new light, and when The Guardian asked him about the comments, Kieran uncomfortably dodged shedding any truth on the matter. He told the outlet, “The only thing I can say is that I can’t really say anything and the reason for that is I can’t be helpful to anyone.” The interview noted that he elaborated in earnest, saying, “To me, it seems like there’s two sides to this thing and because I can’t be helpful on one side or the other, anything I say and anything that gets put out in print could only hurt somebody and there’s already a lot of really hurt feelings. There are already a lot of people who are in a difficult position and if I contribute in any way, it’s just going to hurt someone because I can’t actually help.” Similar to Jackson’s reputation, Kieran’s non-answer doesn’t help put any rumors to rest.
He had no choice in his acting career
While Kit Culkin may have appeared to forcibly pass his passion for acting down to his kids, Kieran Culkin said that some of their exposure to the theater also came down to chance. He told “CBS Sunday Morning” of his acting origin story, saying, “Neighbors of ours were running an off-off-Broadway theater on the Upper East Side, and they knew that there was this family that had a bunch of kids.” So, whenever they needed a role, Kieran’s parents were quick to offer up one of the kids.
But Kit soon turned into a demanding manager. And despite the kids being in front of the camera, he wielded his power over them and their workplaces, with Kieran telling the Irish Times, “He would say: ‘I can shut this production down any time I like’. He just loved to throw that weight around.” And as Macaulay Culkin’s star rose, Kit found himself shopping for a new agent. He eventually met Emily Gerson Saines at the William Morris Agency. Saines told Vanity Fair that Kit said, “If you represent Macaulay, you represent the whole family. I was like, ‘O.K., I’m down with that,’ and I signed them.” However, the irony was that Macaulay was close to his early retirement decision, so Saines turned to Kieran to take up the acting mantle. She told the outlet, “Kieran was not particularly into it either. Neither Macaulay nor Kieran chose to act. It was, to a large degree, chosen for them.” Kieran has since thankfully had a change of heart, allowing us to see him overcome his family’s child star hurdles and become an actor in his own right.
