Macaulay Culkin’s father pleads with the star to get help
Earlier this month, the 31-year-old’s life took a dramatic turn when it was claimed by the National Enquirer that he was ‘close to death’, thanks to addictions to prescription drugs and heroin.
Although the reports have been denied by the star’s PR, Michelle Bega, his estranged father, Kit Culkin, has now pleaded with his son to seek help before it’s too late.
The 67-year-old pensioner – who hasn’t spoken to Culkin in 15 years following a row over his £11million fortune – told The Sun: “I hope that he has the right people looking after him.”
Too distraught to talk any more, Kit’s wife, Jeanette, explained the pair fear the former Home Alone actor is “dying of some disease or heavily into drugs” after seeing disturbing photographs of the star.
In the most recent snaps, a pale and dishevelled Culkin was walking along a Hollywood street clutching his stomach and appearing to retch against an ivy-clad wall, adding fuel to the rumours that all is not well.
Jeanette said: “Oh, gosh. Kit has seen the photo. But he can’t talk about it. He just can’t, because it hurts him too much. Of course he’s worried, he’s incredibly concerned.
“When I saw the photos I thought, “Oh no, this is not good. Either he’s dying of some disease or he’s heavily into drugs.”
Despite the claims, Jeanette explained her husband is still “very proud” of his son, and is just hoping there will be a happy ending.
Although it has been claimed Macaulay turned to drugs in the wake of his split from girlfriend of eight years, Mila Kunis, Jeanette thinks his downfall was down to a family tragedy.
She believes the star – who lives life as a virtual recluse in New York – unravelled when his sister Dakota died in a car crash back in 2008.
Culkin became famous at nine, a millionaire at 12, and quit acting at the age of 15, shortly before becoming estranged from both his parents.
After living a relatively simple life since bowing out of the showbiz world, it was recently claimed the star was struggling with a £3,800 a month drug habit, with supposed insiders saying he regularly shoots up heroin and the painkiller oxycodone – a semi-synthetic opiate sometimes used by cancer patients.
One allegedly told the National Enquirer: “Macaulay Culkin is surely dying. He’s addicted to heroin, Oxycodone and the painkillers Percocet and Vicodin.
“I have witnessed his drug-taking, which has escalated over the past year and a half to the point where he needs serious help.”
Responding to the allegations, Macaulay’s publicist Michelle Bega told MailOnline: “The report in the National Enquirer that Macaulay Culkin is addicted to heroin and assorted hallucinogenics is not only categorically without merit, but it is also impossibly and ridiculously fictitious.”
