Macaulay Culkin explained how his financial situation allowed him to retire at age 14 during an appearance on 'SmartLess'
“Technically, I'm retired right now,” Culkin, 45, said during a Monday, December 29, appearance on the “SmartLess” podcast. “I retire and then, if I find something I like, I unretire, do that, and I immediately retire afterwards.
Every gig is my last.” Culkin rose to fame as a child star, with his career starting at age 4. He appeared in several iconic films like My Girl and Home Alone before retiring at age 14, following the release of his 1994 film Richie Rich. “I quit for nearly a decade,” Culkin explained during Monday’s podcast episode. “Just went to high school, fell in love, got drunk for the first time, things like that.” Despite stepping out of the spotlight, Culkin has returned to Hollywood for several roles over the years. Keep scrolling for his quotes about his career and retirement:Culkin’s experience was a unique one not only because he was a child star, but because of who he was surrounded with during the early days of his career. “When I was younger, I never worked with people my own age. I was always working with adults,” he recalled. “I had a yearning to go to school, to have contemporaries and things like that.”Initially, Culkin had no desire to return to acting after his decision to retire. “I was done. I was like, I hope you all made your money, because there's no more coming from me,” he explained. “I made my name, I made my mark, I made my fortune.”Culkin didn’t offer specifics, but by the time he retired as a teenager, he was in a unique financial situation. “I was in a position where I could just put my thumb up my butt and play video games all day long,” he said. “I could do anything I wanted.” He got the “lion’s share” of money for every gig he booked as a kid. But at one point, it “stopped” being fun for Culkin. “I wanted to take a break, and I said I was getting really taxed,” he recalled. “I was not heard. That was something that really affected me, and affected my work and stuff like that. It was just like, ‘Oh, I'm on the hamster wheel and I can't get off.’ Once I had some autonomy and some agency in my life, I grabbed it with both hands.”While on hiatus from his acting career, Culkin admitted he didn’t really have an interest in a different career. “I was kind of just drifting around, and tried to figure out what I wanted out of life and so forth,” he said. “This was a calling that found me. I didn't find it. I wanted to explore that in a different way, on my terms.”Culkin explained that he likes acting — which is the only reason he takes roles now.
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