Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin wishes he could have done one last thing for Catherine O’Hara before she died.
Culkin, 45, reflected on his relationship with the late actress in a new interview with Gentlemen’s Journal, following O’Hara’s death in January from a pulmonary embolism. She was 71 years old. “When Catherine passed away in January, that hit me,” Culkin told the site.
“That hit me pretty good, ’cause, you know, it was just too soon. And I felt that we had unfinished business. I definitely feel like I had unfinished business with her, you know? I feel like I owed her a favor—and I don’t like having an outstanding debt.”
Culkin added that, as a child actor who co-starred with several Hollywood icons who have since died, he’s had to deal with more loss than most in his age group. John Heard, who played his father in Home Alone alongside O’Hara as his mother, died in 2017.
“I’m not the tip of the sphere,” he explained, “I’m the butt of the sphere. I’m the caboose. I’m bringing up some of that old Hollywood guard kind of thing—I’m going to be one of the last people standing when it comes to that kind of stuff.”
As for his relationship with O’Hara, it was particularly precious to the actor. Reacting to her death on Instagram in January, Culkin posted at the time, “Mama. I thought we had time,” with a photo of the pair from the 1990 film. He was 9 years old at the time of filming. “I wanted more. I wanted to sit in a chair next to you. I heard you, but I had so much more to say.” He concluded the post, “I love you. I’ll see you later.”
Culkin, who shares two sons with his fiancée, Brenda Song, ages 5 and 3, was supported by O’Hara when he received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023. Describing their work together on their classic film and its 1992 sequel, she said, “I know you worked really hard, but you made acting look like the most natural thing in the world.”
O’Hara left behind her husband, Bo Welch, and their two adult sons, Matthew and Luke.
