Actor Kieran Culkin is not a conservative by any stretch. Like most of Hollywood, he’s got unapologetically liberal views and has been vocal about his disdain for President Trump. But despite holding these beliefs, he’s also made headlines recently for expressing some refreshing takes on fatherhood which deserve to be celebrated.
In an industry rife with celebrities bragging about being child-free and actresses crediting abortion for their successful careers, Culkin is an anomaly. The 42-year-old star began his career as a child actor with roles in major productions such as “Home Alone” and “Father of the Bride.” After a brief hiatus and some theater appearances, he hit his stride as an adult actor and won an Emmy for his role as the snarky bad boy Roman Roy in “Succession.”
Now Culkin can add Oscar to his list of awards, and that’s the speech that has everyone buzzing. The actor, who won Best Supporting Actor for “A Real Pain” at the 97th Academy Awards, used his time at the podium to sweetly petition his wife, Jazz, to have a fourth child. Culkin may be a liberal, but all the conservatives were left swooning.
“This is — please don’t play the music because I want to tell a really quick story about Jazz,” the actor said at the end of his speech, before going on to reference how after winning an Emmy, he had mentioned wanting to have a third baby.
“About a year ago, I was on a stage like this and I very stupidly, publicly said that I want a third kid from her because she said if I won the award, I would, she would give me the kid. It turns out she said that because she didn’t think I was gonna win, but then people came up to her and were like, you know, really annoying her … I think it got to her, but anyway.”
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“After the show, we’re walking through a parking lot, she’s holding the Emmy, we’re trying to find a car. Emily, you were there, so you’re a witness, and she goes, ‘Oh God, I did say that. I guess I owe you a third kid,’ and I turned to her and I said, ‘Really, I want four.’ And she turned to me, I swear to God this happened, it was just over a year ago, she said, ‘I will give you four when you win an Oscar.’ I held my hand out, she shook it, and I have not brought it up once until just now,” Culkin continued as the audience laughed.
“You remember that, honey? You do? Then, I just have this to say to you, Jazz, love of my life, ye of little faith. No pressure. I love you. I’m really sorry I did this again. And let’s get crackin’ on those kids. What do you say? I love you!” he concluded.
As mentioned, this wasn’t the only time Culkin had requested a baby after winning a major award. He did the same thing after winning an Emmy in 2024. And it’s also not the first time he’s gushed about fatherhood.
The actor told Esquire in 2023 that after his run in “Succession” ended, he didn’t have anything else lined up, and said he did it intentionally.
“I would like there to be nothing for a little while..,” Culkin said at the time. “I feel like what I’m supposed to do is be a stay-at-home dad. That’s where I feel like I’m the most me. And anything that takes me away from that is wrong.”
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The actor even said he almost quit “A Real Pain” when the scheduling dates were such that he’d be away from his family, including Jazz and their two young children, for a whole month.
“I was like, ‘I can’t be away from the family for that long,’ and I had a flip-out,” he told The New York Times in December. “I was in Warsaw and I asked for one less day of press so I could go home for a day. I was home for 32 hours — and I was sick the whole time, so the trip was pointless — but I just needed to be home and see the kids. The work is so I can be home, not so I can be at work,” he added.
During the same interview, the actor said becoming a father changed everything for him.
“That’s why with this movie, I was like, ‘Why did I say yes to this? There’s no money here, I don’t see how this is going to benefit me or my family in any way.’ I don’t have the same mentality of when I was 26 and single, being like, ‘I’m going to Shreveport to do a movie for a few weeks, who cares?’ Now I have to go, ‘Where does it shoot and for how long? Can I bring the family? When, because are my kids going to be in school?’ All those things matter before I even start the conversation of will I do it or not.”
He added, “[T]he real stuff is me being home with my kids, when I’m reading them books and singing them songs until they go to sleep. That’s the whole point of life. The rest of it I’m doing so I can get back to that.”
Culkin, whose brother is well-known “Home Alone” star Macauley Culkin, is one of six kids, so big families are nothing new to him. But the actor didn’t get along with his father. Christopher Cornelius “Kit” Culkin and Patricia Brentrup never formally married but stayed together from 1974 until they broke up in 1995. Culkin and his dad are currently estranged.
The “Succession” star said his dad was abusive during childhood, per People. Culkin also said his father, an aspiring actor himself, was jealous of his success.
“[He said] ‘Do good or I’ll hit you.’ He was a bad man. He was abusive, physically and mentally — I can show you all my scars if I wanted to,” Culkin said during an appearance on the podcast WTF With Marc Maron in 2018.
The family didn’t have a lot of money. They shared a railroad style apartment in Manhattan’s Upper East Side as his father worked as a cab driver and at a Catholic Church and his mom earned money as a phone operator. The outlet noted that five kids shared two bunk beds in one room until Macauley started earning bigger paychecks with his successful film career.
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“It was just a hallway, and there were no separating doors, except for the bathroom, which didn’t have a lock,” the actor told Vanity Fair. “They raised seven kids in that apartment — for years! They just kept bringing babies home to this little space.”
Culkin has a better relationship with his mom, who he thanked during his 2024 Emmys acceptance speech. “My wonderful mom,” he said. “Thank you so much for doing everything you did for us. You’re an amazing woman.”
A rocky childhood hasn’t deterred the star from trying to create a stable family for himself. He and Jazz eloped in 2013, then welcomed daughter Kinsey Sioux in 2019, and son Wilder Wolf in 2021.
In December, he told Variety that besides being a father, “nothing else matters.”
“When I look at my life before I had kids, I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, this was some guy who like, had hobbies and liked things. This isn’t a real person,’” he said. “… I’m a dad now, and that’s my only actual role in life is that, that’s real life, and all this is lovely, but I’m just trying to get home.”
