1990s child stars Macaulay Culkin and Aaron Carter- Who has fared the best and worst into adulthood?

Macaulay Culkin's father has to be one of the most monstrous stage parents of all time. Considering that, he could've turned out much worse.

I don't see Culkin as a mess at all. I wish I had his smarts with money. He's often spotted lounging around fun cities, doing arsty activities. He has privacy for the most part too (had no clue he was with Mila Kunis for like a decade until they broke up). In no way is he comparable to Aaron Carter.

r1 What was his father like?What did he do?

Carter seems worse-off or maybe he's just in the news more often. By "news," I mean social media as well.

Carter seems like he is still being used by his family (mother). Now, he's basically advertising his services online (sexual). Seems like things can't get that much worse for him.

No one is quite comparable to the unfortunate train wreck of Aaron. Macaulay at least seems reasonably happy in himself and I don’t think takes himself too seriously. And hadn’t resorted to Onlyfans.

These two are like apples and oranges, with Carter being the rotting apple.

That Culkin pic is like, 15 years old, right?

Macaulay Culkin is doing much better than OP's pic.

He has a new job on AMERICAN HORROR STORY and this is what he looks like today:

New AHS still:

Their fame levels aren’t comparable. For a minute back there, Culkin as a child was the Western world’s biggest star. As far as the box office goes, kid was in Mega. Shit.

To put it kindly, Carter has never enjoyed quite that level of stardom.

I'm not sure r7 but it was one of the first pictures on twitter I could find that included both of them.

While I don’t know for certain, I feel confident saying that Mac shares loving, non-abusive, healthy and respectful platonic relationships with his (four!) brothers.

Aaron....does not enjoy the same.

Yes r8 He does look much healthier in that more recent picture.

r12 What is the issue between Aaron and his siblings?

[quote] [R1] What was his father like?What did he do?

He's just a terrible person. He was physically and mentally abusive towards Mac and his siblings. He was also very jealous of his kid's fame and success.

Thanks r15 Has Macaulay talked about this?

He did some big interview like two years ago talking about it.

Macaulay still has his money. That’s one huge difference.

[quote]Has Macaulay talked about this?

Both Macaulay and his brother Kieran talked about their father on Marc Maron's podcast.

[quote]Macaulay still has his money. That’s one huge difference.

He was very smart. He has never said who gave him the advice, but when his parents split he had their names removed from his trust fund so that they couldn't touch his money or try to use him as a pawn. That was his saving grace.

Aaron Carter's parents stole his money (now that his father's dead and he's chummy with his mother he rests the blame only on his father). When Aaron came of age he blew through his money from his Coogan account.

[quote]What is the issue between Aaron and his siblings?

His brother and twin sister had restraining orders against him because they claimed he told them he had fantasies of killing their kids. Plus, Aaron accused his brother of raping multiple women, including a 90-year old and he also claimed his dead sister raped him when he was in his teens. One of his other sisters claims it was the opposite- Aaron raped their sister.

Macaulay Culkin looks like a younger Steve Buscemi now. Maybe there's time for a comeback.

True r18 r19 That sounds off the scale horrendous and dysfunctional ☹😲😲 Is Aaron from what americans call a ' trailer trash family '? What state are the Carters from?

Macaulay Culkin reminds me of Kid Rock in R9’s picture.

[quote]Is Aaron from what americans call a ' trailer trash family '? What state are the Carters from?

Yes. They're Florida trailer trash.

Oh r23 I thought Florida was seen as a decent state at the time Aaron was born and not say a Missisippi ?

r20 Possibly.

Culkin doesn’t look like that now

One is eccentric but seems to have a stable life with a girlfriend, family and friends. The other is a cracked out meth head with face tattoos screaming conspiracy theories on onlyfans.

Hmm...who might be in better shape?

Florida is considered WORSE than Mississippi for trailer trash and bad behavior, r23!

It's a running joke in America because the craziest, most violent crimes, sex scandals and behavior come from Florida trash.

Yes, there is Disney World, Disney media, Fort Lauderdale, a well-behaved Jewish community in Miami surrounded by nice hotels and resorts that all the British and European tourists flock to.

But the native white population has always been WASP, evangelical trailer trash like Mississippi, up to no good. And there are a lot of minorities who have taken over South Beach and urban areas where crime runs rampant.

These are the types of headlines we get from Florida every week:

Cheers r28 but was Florida worse than Missippi back when Aaron was born and raised? Was Macaulay Culkin born in California?

R29 ever heard of google? The Culkins are from New York

Does Culkin still receive hush money from the Michael Jackson estate like all those other boys/now men?

Culkin will be able to get decent work after AHS. If anything, he'll be in the Ryan Murphy fold.

Macaulay has his father to thank for his money. His father was hated by film producers because he insisted Macauley get huge paydays on his films. Seems the father was a kid actor, got paid squat for his performances & paid a lot of money to take acting lessons, get jobs, have agents, etc. And like lots of child actors, he was a nobody once he got older.... so he insisted Macaulay be paid well for his starring roles and not be ripped off like other kid actors.

So while he’s not a nice guy, he did well by his kid by refusing to let Hollywood take advantage of his box office.

r30 I have heard of Google. I have also heard of having a friendly conversation or going with the natural flow of a conversation in real time rather than just never asking anything at all ever and just googling everything afterwards.

Thanks for your New York reply.

I thought Culkin was very good in Saved, and seemed able to move beyond the imitative style of most child actors (I remember reading that his Home Aline performance was the result of painstaking line readings and imitation of the director’s gestures and facial expressions). Most scholars of drama pedagogy suggest that, as a rule, children younger than adolescence, are not well served in their development by scripted acting—improvisatory play builds their expressive and imaginative dimensions better.

r35 Hopefully better career days ahead for him.

Macaulay Culkin went through his rough "ex-child star" period in the 2000s/early 2010s, but he seems to be fine now and is still working. He's been in a long-term relationship with Brenda Song (former Disney child star) for some time now, and they seem well-adjusted IMO. Aaron Carter, on the other hand, is a delusional drug addict who does porn on OnlyFans.

[Quote]  has privacy for the most part too (had no clue he was with Mila Kunis for like a decade until they broke up).

And Mila has said she was horrible to him. Wonder what she did....

Macaulay needs to gain 25 pounds and get some fat in his face. Lived in the same neighborhood in the 90's and I was walking out of a Chinese take out and he was running with his friends and bouncing a basketball. And boom he runs right into me but he was very respectful and apologetic.

At least Aaron's got a nice dick.

[quote] He's just a terrible person. He was physically and mentally abusive towards Mac and his siblings. He was also very jealous of his kid's fame and success.

Yeah, I remember the stories of the dad Kit being jealous of Mac's success. Bonnie Bedelia is Kit's sister so I'm guessing he was probably jealous that she managed to work in film and TV.

[Quote] Bonnie Bedelia is Kit's sister so I'm guessing he was probably jealous that she managed to work in film and TV.

Wow i had no idea those two were related.

r40 Are you sure Macaulay hasn't got a nice one too?

That Culkin photo is years and years old, OP. He's much improved since then. He's much better off than Carter...personally & financially it seems..

Im glad r44 that Mr Culkin is in a much better situation but poor Aaron having such extreme situations and dynamics in his family.

Macaulay is doing a lot better now that’s an old photo. Maybe by the time Aaron Carter is his age he’ll be cleaned up too.

An interesting fact I learned from MC’s podcast is that he’s friends with Lizzo and she opened for his band The Pizza Underground years ago.

Macaulay Culkin for obvious reasons. His siblings Rory and Kieran also did well. Given they had an awful family life. Mostly inflicted by their father who Macaulay cut off from his life but says he forgives him. Culkin is intelligent, made a lot of connections and kept his money intact. Nowadays, he's lives a life as a rich hipster who still acts as a hobby. He seems like a sweet guy but still gives off a childlike vibe. Very similar to Elijah Wood and Frankie Muniz.

Aaron Carter's music career peaked in 2001 and he was never a big star like Culkin. Aaron was a pop star for the Nickelodeon/Disney audience and piggybacked on his brother's fame. Aaron is dumber than a bag of hammers, likely bipolar, a drug addict and was surrounded by horrible people. His whole family cut him off besides his stage mother who was the one who exploited him and Nick in the first place. His dead dad was a creep and probably molested him and his siblings.

Brenda has just given birth to a baby.

Macauley Culkin starred in a string of high-grossing, successful films and was, for a time, an A-lister.

Aaron Carter was the little brother of a boy band member, who had one very minor hit song. The very definition of a D-lister.

Why are we even mentioning the two in the same breath, let alone comparing them?