Home Alone actor Macaulay Culkin has opened up about what he described as “unfinished business” with his screen mother, Catherine O’Hara, who died earlier this year.
O’Hara died at her Los Angeles home in January after suffering a pulmonary embolism.
In the wake of the news, messages honoring the actor spread quickly, including a deeply personal post from Culkin. Writing on Instagram, he said: “Mama. I thought we had time.
“I wanted more. I wanted to sit in a chair next to you. I heard you but I had so much more to say.
“I love you. I’ll see you later.”
Alongside the message, Culkin shared two photos placed side by side.
One throwback showed the pair on set while filming Home Alone, while the other captured them together years later at the event marking Culkin’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star.
More recently, Culkin reflected further on the loss and why it’s continued to weigh on him.
“When Catherine passed away in January, that hit me. That hit me pretty good, ’cause, you know, it was just too soon,” he told Gentleman’s Journal.
“And I felt that we had unfinished business.
“I definitely feel like I had unfinished business with her, you know?”
He also said he felt he still owed O’Hara something, explaining that he dislikes leaving anything unresolved — referring to it as an outstanding debt.
O’Hara famously played Kate McAllister — Kevin’s mom — in the first two films, Home Alone and Home Alone 2, with Culkin starring in the role at just 10 years old. O’Hara previously recalled that one particular moment during filming was especially tough for her to perform.
Speaking as she honored Culkin during his Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony, she said: “The scene where I had to drag him upstairs to sleep in the attic ‘cause he’d misbehaved, he’s mouthing off about the family and I say, ‘Well, you’d be pretty sad if you woke up tomorrow morning and you had no family,’ and he says, ‘No, I wouldn’t.’ And I was supposed to say, ‘Then say it again – maybe it’ll happen.’
“I can’t tell you how much that killed me – I could not wrap my head around saying something so horrific to this beautiful child.
“Of course I was not yet a mother at the time and I had no idea the kind of things would come out of my own mouth with my own two sons.”