Brenda Song Reveals She And Macaulay Culkin Share "Trauma" From Growing Up As Child Actors

Last year, millions of Americans learned about the horrible abuse that minors endured on the set of Nickelodeon, thanks to the docuseries Quiet on Set. Abuse victims mirrored the experiences of those who grew up in Hollywood. It is a miracle when child stars grow up to be normal, healthy adults, given everything they suffer through. Yet somehow, Macaulay Culkin and Brenda Song found each other in the aftermath, and they now share an understanding of what it means to grow up under the spotlight.

The Shared Childhood Trauma Between Culkin and Song

Brenda Song, now 36, recently opened up on the Sibling Revelry podcast about how she and Macaulay Culkin, 44, shared trauma as young stars. "It wasn’t one of the first things we connected on, but I think there was this unspoken understanding that we’ve had certain trauma that we both share that we didn’t even quite realize stems from us being child actors," she admitted. "Certain anxieties or stressors or even triggers that you don't realize. You don't realize as a kid, how much that affects you as an adult."

Song says that their experiences were "different" from each other. Culkin was the child star of the early '90s, starring in classic hits like Home Alone, My Girl, and Richie Rich. Song, on the other hand, worked consistently but didn’t reach mainstream recognition until The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, ultimately becoming one of the most recognizable faces of Disney Channel in the early 2000s.

"[It] impacted how we look at our relationship with the industry now, how he looks at it and how I look at it," she continued. "I always say, like, I've been in this business for 33 years, and I still love it. Something must be wrong with me."

Macaulay Culkin's Disturbing Childhood

Culkin has long been candid about his difficult relationship with his father, Kit Culkin, who controlled his career like many celebrity parents. "He was a bad man. He was abusive, physically and mentally—I can show you all my scars if I wanted to," Macaulay revealed in 2018 on WTF with Marc Maron. "I was making God-knows-how-much money, and Kit was making me sleep on the couch, just because he could. Just to let you know who’s in charge and just to let you know if he doesn’t want you to sleep in a bed, you’re not going to sleep in a bed."

By 15, after his parents split, Culkin was thrust into a custody battle where his earnings were at stake. Realizing the extent of his financial worth, he took legal action to remove his parents’ names from his trust fund. "Basically, I had millions and millions of dollars in the bank, and my mother couldn’t pay the rent because she was spending all of her money on lawyers," he recalled. "The only way I could get access to that money was to take my father’s name off it, but I didn’t want to make it messy, so I figured I’d take both their names off."

Kit Culkin never showed up to the final day of the custody trial. Macaulay has not spoken to him since.

Regardless of their experiences, Song and Culkin have helped each other heal. "It's also been really nice, though, to have someone who truly just really understands," Brenda said. "He gets what I do on a different kind of level, and it's been so nice. I've never had that before."

Their relationship, which began in 2017 while filming Changeland, led to engagement in 2022 and two children: Dakota, 3, and Carson, 2. Song, who had never dated another actor before, revealed how Culkin was the first boyfriend she ever brought home to her family. "I was not a cool girl. I was such a little nerd who sat at home," she said. "Working so much as a kid, I just loved being home so much."

For Macaulay, fatherhood has helped him reshape his painful past. And while the two aren’t done with the entertainment industry yet, their focus is now on their family. "Family life is the most important thing," Song recently said. "But I’ve always said to be the best parent, the best partner, I have to be the best me."

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