Macaulay Culkin has a set of ground rules for fans who want to approach him in public.
The former child star revealed on “SmartLess,” hosted by Jason Bateman and Will Arnett, that while he adores his fans, he prefers they keep their distance when he’s spending time with his family.
“Don’t approach me when I’m at the dinner table. I don’t like that. Don’t approach me when I’m with my kids,” said the 45-year-old actor, who shares two young children — Dakota, 4, and Carson, 3 — with actress Brenda Song.
Culkin also emphasized that fans should “definitely” never follow him into the bathroom.
The “Home Alone” star said he began setting those boundaries after realizing he ultimately controls his interactions with fans outside of public events.
“I just realized that I’m in charge of the social contract,” Culkin said. “I’m in charge of the interaction. I can guide this interaction.”
Culkin launched his Hollywood career as a child in the late ’80s, but his star truly exploded in 1990 with “Home Alone,” which solidified him as a household name.
However, at just 14 years old and fresh off hits like “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York,” “My Girl,” and “Richie Rich,” Culkin began pumping the brakes on his acting career as his fame peaked.
When asked if he ever considered college during that time, Culkin said he “didn’t really see the point of it to get a degree in general.”
“Like if I wanted to study English literature or something like that, yeah, that would make sense,” he said. “But I didn’t have that necessarily — that kind of bone in my body.”
Culkin said he spent years figuring out what he wanted to do, eventually moving to London around age 20, where he began acting in a play before returning to the US.
In a recent interview on “Mythical Kitchen,” the “Richie Rich” star elaborated further on why he stepped away from Hollywood.
“What I wanted was to be with people my own age,” Culkin said. “A lot of the stuff I did when I was a kid — I wasn’t doing ensembles. It was me.”
“I wanted to go out. I wanted to date girls. I wanted to hang out with people my own age. I wanted to go to a party,” he added. “I can’t tell you how many bar mitzvahs I missed.”
Culkin said he fell into acting almost by accident, tagging along when his father, Kit Culkin, took his older siblings to get headshots.
“My mom just wanted a break and said, ‘Take Mac with you,’” he recalled. “Out of the gate — first audition — booked, booked, booked.”
“This is a line of work I didn’t find,” Culkin added. “It found me. That’s kind of why I came back around to it.”
Following his hiatus, the “My Girl” star returned to acting in 2003 with “Party Monster.”
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