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Macaulay Culkin isn’t asking his younger brother Kieran Culkin for help getting acting roles, despite a false tabloid report. Gossip Cop looked into the rumor. It’s simply untrue.
Life & Style alleges that Macaulay is begging his brother for a job after his recent success on HBO’s Succession. On the hit show, Kieran plays Roman Roy – the young and immature son of media powerhouse Logan Roy – who frequently clashes with his older brother over the issue of, well, succession. In what would be a shocking twist (if it were true, which it isn’t), the outlet says a similar struggle has emerged in the Culkin family.
“Macaulay was always the star of the family, but now he’s the one begging Kieran to put in a good word with the Hollywood honchos,” a supposed “insider” tells the magazine. The outlet says the Home Alone star “hasn’t had much luck lately, and he can’t help but feel a little envious of his brother’s success.”
First off, Macaulay’s spokesperson denies the story outright. While Gossip Cop can’t argue with the fact that Succession is indeed a huge success, that hasn’t negatively impacted Macaulay or his relationship with his brother. This whole rumor is founded on the notion that Macaulay is eager to re-join show business, which simply isn’t true.
Macaulay has been fairly private since his withdrawal from Hollywood as a teenager, but the former child star has opened up about his struggles with and distaste for fame. Although Kieran has discovered an actual love for acting, he and Macaulay had an very traumatic start as child actors. Macaulay is perfectly content pursuing his current passions, having come to terms with his status as one of the most famous child stars of all time.
“I felt like some kid worked really, really hard and I inherited all his money,” Macaulay said in an interview with Ellen Degeneres last year. “I had kind of no real sense. It allows me to treat everything like a hobby,” he added, “so I can just do all kinds of projects that I want to do, whether it’s writing or painting or a new website or whatever it is.” Currently, Macaulay is focused on his satirical site Bunny Ears, for which he just recorded a podcast featuring skating legend Tony Hawk.
Additionally, the tabloid leaves the story suspiciously vague when it comes to important details. Who are the “Hollywood honchos” that Kieran knows? Are they television execs, HBO producers, casting directors? Or, more likely, are they just imaginary figures made up by an unreliable “insider” with no actual insight? All actual signs point to the brothers being happy with their current roles, on and off set.
Hollywood is a fickle construct, and it doesn’t take much for an actor to fall out of the limelight while others rise. This plot line about a former star trying to stage a comeback by any means necessary isn’t new. Last year, Gossip Cop busted RadarOnline, one of Life & Style‘s sister sites, for a similar story about Jessica Simpson begging her sister Ashlee for an opportunity to make a “singing comeback.” This narrative didn’t apply to the Simpson sisters, and it’s no more accurate in the case of the Culkin brothers.
Our Verdict
Gossip Cop has determined this story is totally false.