Home Alone star ‘felt bad’ for Macaulay Culkin during filming

Macaulay Culkin was just 10 when he shot to fame on Home Alone, and now, one of his co-stars has revealed the sacrifices the child star had to make.

We always love a Hollywood memoir, and actor Daniel Stern, whose autobiographical book Home and Alone came out on May 21, wrote a juicy one.

The memoir includes wild stories about Stern snorting real cocaine for the film Honky Tonk Freeway, and his unsuccessful attempt to expose Brett Ratner and Jeremy Piven for harassment on the set of his 1999 sitcom Partners.

And, of course, it also includes tales from his time on the set of one of his most famous films, Home Alone.

In the book, Stern writes about his time working with a then 10-year-old Macaulay Culkin (who had already been working for years as a child actor before his starring role in the film) and spending a day at the park with Culkin during some time off.

“He was a sweet kid but had lived a very different life than my kids. He didn’t know how to play tag or throw the ball around. He was more of an indoor kid and had a lot of adult pressure on him from show business and parents and such,” Stern recalls in his memoir.

Stern (pictured right) starred in Home Alone and its sequel with Macaulay Culkin and Joe Pesci (pictured left).

Stern also describes the attention and material gifts Culkin received from Michael Jackson, who had struck up a relationship with the young actor.

Culkin would go on to star in Jackson’s video for 1991’s Black and White the year after Home Alone premiered.

“We realised he had formed a friendship with Michael Jackson because when we picked him up, his hotel room was stacked, literally from wall to wall and ceiling to floor, with toys,” Stern writes.

Culkin was just 10 when he shot to fame in Home Alone. Picture: Fox Home Entertainment

He continues, “Every conceivable toy, as if someone went through Toys ‘R’ Us, took one of each, and dropped them in his room. All a gift from Michael Jackson. It made all of us feel really bad for Mac. My kids had experienced a taste of the distortions that fame can bring, but seeing what Mac’s life was like put things in a different perspective.”

Culkin and partner Brenda Song. Picture: Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Stern and Culkin would later co-star in Home Alone 2: Lost In New York in 1992.

Culkin, now 43, is now in a relationship with former Disney Channel star Brenda Song.

The couple share two children.

This story originally appeared on Decider and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as Home Alone star ‘felt bad’ for Macaulay Culkin during filming