If I had to choose a child actor with the saddest post-acting life, it would have to be Macaulay Culkin!
What we see is a happy child. What we don't see is a kid who repressed all his family problems while performing.
We knew him best as Kevin McCallister, a sweet and fearless boy who was also very active and had a subtle dark humor for a kid his age. We quickly fell in love with the character he played in the Kid Icarus series because of his adorable face, his innocent yet mischievous personality, and his intelligence in being able to defeat two thieves (albeit horribly).
Oh! Let's not forget that iconic facial expression!
McCauley comes from an ordinary family in New York. His father, Kit Culkin, worked in Broadway theater productions, and his mother, Patricia Culkin, was a telephone operator. They weren't the wealthiest of families; McCauley lived in a tiny one-bedroom apartment with his six other siblings and parents.
When he was four years old, he began helping and earning money to play the stage for his family.
His father had never been successful in pursuing his own acting career, so when his children began to play the roles of professional actors in movies, he decided to become their agent.
However, this would eventually be the catalyst for the breakup of his family. Seeing that his kids were more successful than he was, he began to get a little jealous of the amount of money his kids were making, and Kit began to take pride in the fact that they were getting more money, much to the dismay of their producers.
In 1989, McCauley would play Russell Myers, one of Uncle Buck's nephews, played by John Candy, in John Hughes' Uncle Buck.
McCauley would end up with a great role in the movie, which would subsequently help him land a role in Chris Columbus' "Kid Icarus" (1990) on the recommendation of "Kid Icarus" writer John Hughes. Even in "Uncle Buck," McCauley already had the character traits of Kevin McCallister, and he was the perfect choice for the role.
We all know the ending of "The Kid's Life". It became a Christmas classic, and 30 years later, it's still one of the most watched Christmas movies at Christmastime.
McCauley made $100,000 building his first house alone, and he made a staggering $4.5 million building Home Alone 2 alone. Not only that, but his fame had exploded by then, and he even made a cameo in Michael Jackson's black-and-white music video, which was the start of a friendship between the two.
As their fame grew, however, so did the abusive nature of his father, Kit. He didn't want to see his children's reputations in tatters, so as an agent, he took a strict line with them.
McCauley's performance on Saturday Night Live (SNL) is an example. While other cast members often performed their skits with the aid of teleprompter cards, McCauley was forbidden to use them by his father, who, if I recall correctly, scolded and beat him when his performances were substandard.
His father's child abusive nature continued to grow. His father would physically abuse his mother, beat her while she was pregnant, and threaten to kill her. The family would end with both of his parents divorcing. Today, McCauley longs for a "normal life" because his fame has attracted the paparazzi.
Many years later, McCauley would find himself a witness in Michael Jackson's child molestation case, testifying that he did sleep with Michael, but was not molested in any way.
His fame caused him to develop agoraphobia, a fear of public ****ing places and large gatherings. He often had panic attacks due to this phobia. This would eventually lead him to move to Paris, where he was not as famous as he was in the United States.
In 1998, his mother accidentally set fire to their apartment, killing four people. Even though he wasn't near the apartment, people took the opportunity to seize his wealth and started filing lawsuits against him!
Once again, fame brought him pleasure, and he partied regularly. Until 2004, when police found illegal substances in his car in Oklahoma City. He would be arrested for a period of time, post four thousand dollars bail and be released.
Today, McCauley seems to have recovered from his dependence on illegal drugs by starting a new podcast called Bunny Ears. He'll joke that thanks to his career as a child actor, he's able to live off the money he earns and live the life he wants.
Despite his success and becoming one of the most famous child stars of all time, his life experiences left him living a life of pain and sadness after his acting career ended. He turned to illegal drugs to cope with his father's abusive nature and his parents' divorce. In fact, Chris Columbus was aware of McCauley's family problems and sometimes even had to intervene.