Macaulay Culkin Doesn’t Like Those Exploitative Child Star Documentaries

Child stars having messed-up lives was a punchline for most of my childhood. I’m sure it still is, and maybe I just see it less, but it felt like it was everywhere when I was little. You could watch a sitcom for adults and hear jokes about people like Danny Bonaduce and Drew Barrymore. Then, you could turn on a children’s cartoon and hear … pretty much the same jokes. It was open season on these kids, who were often forced into stardom by their parents. One such star, whom I constantly heard stories about, was Macaulay Culkin.

When I say I “heard stories” I mean that quite literally. It was the ’90s, and I was not going to the store to snag the most recent issue of the Enquirer. Our family computer was riddled with various versions of Doom, and that’s about all it was suitable for. I heard everything from my older brother or kids at school or, occasionally, my parents. I’ve since learned that none of those were reliable sources. Information just kind of got butchered and passed around. Eventually, I had to be like, “Wait, did Culkin really get drunk at a Planet Hollywood and assault Leonardo DiCaprio when he was 13?”

The truth is much more tragic and doesn’t need to be recounted here. Even with the success, Macaulay Culkin had a hard life. What makes me glad is seeing him live a happy life now. He looks like he’s in a great place, and I can get that sense just by looking through Getty Images for a recent picture of the dude. He’s always smirking, living life, and loving his wife. It rules. He’s also going to bat for other child stars who have been the subject of a flurry of recent documentaries.

I haven’t wanted to watch any of the “explosive” documentaries put out in recent years by Investigation Discovery. They often feel gross, and there’s little to be gained by watching them. Yes, some people’s misdeeds have been brought into the spotlight because of them, but they often feel intended to exploit people’s pain for clicks, views, and social media presence. It appears that Culkin isn’t a fan of them either, as he recently took to Instagram to ask the company to ease up.

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“Dear ID,” the Party Monster star wrote on Instagram. “Please take it easy on the kiddos. We’ve all been through the wringer. No one wants to feel exploited. Don’t pile on. Love, Macaulay Culkin.” Will ID ease up as Culkin is asking? Probably not. What they’re doing is very successful, even if it’s gross. Still, it’s nice that someone like Macaulay Culkin has come out on the other end of child stardom in a healthier place and is trying to look out for those like him.