Macaulay Culkin, emotional message after the death of actress Catherine O'Hara, his “mother” from the films “Home Alone”
Macaulay Culkin and Catherine O'Hara in December 2023, when the veteran actress gave a speech at Culkin's induction ceremony on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, PHOTO: Matt Baron, BEI / Shutterstock Editorial / Profimedia Images
American actor Macaulay Culkin wrote an emotional message for his “Home Alone” co-star, Catherine O'Hara, almost immediately after her death on Friday at the age of 71, reports Variety magazine.
“Mom. I thought we still had time,” he wrote in a message posted on Instagram. “I wanted more. I wanted to sit in a chair next to you. I heard you, but I had so many things to say. I love you. We'll see each other again,” he continued the message.
O'Hara starred in Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York as Kate McCallister, the mother of Culkin's character Kevin McCallister – the role that launched his career as a child actor.
Variety magazine recalls that they had an emotional reunion in December 2023, when Culkin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and O'Hara gave a speech at the ceremony.
What Catherine O'Hara said about Culkin years later
“Macaulay — this beautiful, sweet 10-year-old boy — was being called a superstar, a money-making machine, one of the hottest young leading actors in Hollywood, by the entire world. How could anyone survive that?” O'Hara said in her speech.
“Well, I think you have to have a certain quality, a gift that dear [scenarist-producător] John Hughes obviously recognized it in you, Macaulay: a sense of humor. It is a sign of intelligence in a child and a key to survival in life at any age. And from what I can see, you've brought this sweet, yet slightly dark, yet utterly familiar sense of humor to everything you've chosen to do from 'Home Alone' onward.”
“Thank you for including me — your fake mom who left you home alone not once, but twice — to share in this happy moment,” she concluded. “I'm so proud of you.” Culkin wiped away tears as the two embraced.
Creative Artists Agency announced in a statement Friday that O'Hara died Friday at his home in Los Angeles after a brief illness. The actress was 71 years old.
O'Hara recently starred in the new film 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice'
Although the role in “Home Alone” is probably the one for which she is best known in Romania, she had a career that spanned over 5 decades in Hollywood, starring in numerous films, after launching her career in television.
An iconic role of her career was that of the eccentric Moira Rose in the series “Schitt's Creek”. In fact, although she was nominated over the years for the Golden Globes, the TV series brought her the biggest awards of her career: two Emmys, in 1982 and in 2020.
Other notable roles include Best in Show (2000) and A Mighty Wind (2003), as well as Beetlejuice (1988) and the sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024).
O'Hara attended the premiere of “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” at the Cannes International Film Festival, where she reunited on the red carpet after 36 years with Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder, the main actors of Tim Burton's first feature film.
The most recent production in which he starred was the series “The Studio” (2025), for which he also received an Emmy nomination.
