Macaulay Culkin has opened up about his experience of the close relationship between himself and Michael Jackson.
Culkin was famously in the orbit of the ‘Thriller’ singer, who even featured the Home Alone star in his music video for his track ‘Black or White’.
However, in the years following the pair’s relationship, Jackson faced abuse allegations over his treatment of the minors who spent time at his Neverland ranch. This was explored in the 2019 documentary Finding Neverland.
Years after the pair first met, Culkin opened up about just how their relationship began while talking to Larry King.
“I first met him, he kind of called me randomly, like, out of the blue, he was just kind of like, ‘Hi, it’s Michael’, and I’m like, ‘Hey’,” he recalled, per UNILAD.
“This was after Home Alone. I’d actually met him once before when I was doing The Nutcracker at Lincoln Center, I was playing Fritz, and he came backstage one day and I actually met him very briefly.
“And he kind of recognised me because it was after I’d done Uncle Buck.”
In a different interview, the former child star recalled a phone call he had received from the musician one day.
“He reached out to me, because a lot of things were happening like, you know, big and fast with me, and I think yes, I think yeah he identified with that,” Culkin said.
“And then he calls me up kind of out of the blue, it’s kind of just this weird, random thing. He was like, ‘Why don’t you come over to my house?’ “
He opened up further about his experience meeting the singer for the first time on Marc Maron’s podcast, WTF with Marc Maron.
“He came backstage before the show,” the actor said. “He loved dance, he was a dance man. He came backstage with Donald Trump, because they were friendly back then.
“I remember he looked at me like, ‘I know you from somewhere. ‘Oh, Uncle Buck, yeah, you’re funny’.”
However, Culkin has always maintained that ‘nothing happened’ between Jackson and himself.
“Look, I’m gonna begin with the line-it’s not a line, it’s the truth: He never did anything to me,” he told Esquire.
“I never saw him do anything. And especially at this flashpoint in time, I’d have no reason to hold anything back. The guy has passed on.”
