Years after he left the spotlight, fans are still fascinated by the life of former child star Macaulay Culkin.
From his impressive film career to his troubled relationship with his father, there are a number of interesting stories wrapped up in Culkin's rise to fame. But the most unusual one of all is his relationship with pop star Michael Jackson.
Jackson's friendships with Culkin and other young boys came under scrutiny after a string of lawsuits alleged that the singer had molested children. Culkin even admitted to sharing a bed with the singer in a 2005 trial, while denying Jackson had ever acted inappropriately towards him.
But, despite how things seemed from the outside looking in, Culkin insists his friendship with Jackson was "normal" in a new interview.
The actor recently appeared on the Inside of You podcast hosted by actor Michael Rosenbaum, and set things straight about his relationship with Jackson.
As Culkin described, Jackson was more like a mentor to the child star, who was just 10 years old when they met. He explained that Jackson could relate to him after finding fame at a young age himself (as a singer in the Jackson Five).
"I was a peerless person," Culkin explained. "Nobody else in my Catholic school even had this much idea of what I was going through, and he was the kind of person who'd been through the exact same frickin' thing and wanted to make sure I wasn't alone."
"I mean, at the end of the day, it's almost easy to try say it was like weird or whatever, but it wasn't, because it made sense," he said. "At the end of the day, we were friends."
While the star was 22 years older than him, Culkin mainly remembers his late friend as "funny," "sweet," and "generous."
"It's one of my friendships that people question, only because of the fact that he was the most famous person in the world," he said.
"For me, it's so normal and mundane. I know it's a big deal to everybody else, but it was a normal friendship."
The actor also revealed a side of Jackson that know one else saw, saying he would make prank phone calls to entertain himself.
"People didn't know how funny he was," Culkin said. "He liked prank calling people, because obviously he was good with his voice."
Culkin remained close with Jackson until his death in 2009, and was named the godfather to the singer's three children.
But Culkin didn't have anything nice to say about his father, Kit, who he called a "mean b----d" in the interview.
"The word "˜proud' never came across his lips," Culkin explained.
"I do actually go out of my way, when it comes to my brothers and loved ones, when they do something really good or great, I go out of my way to say that I am proud of them, because that's something I never really heard."
In a previous interview with podcast host Marc Maron, Culkin described his childhood in Hollywood as "going around the country locked in a room with a man who didn't like me."
"He was a bad man," Culkin said. "He was abusive. Physically and mentally."
The actor told Rosenbaum that he hasn't spoken to Kit in "about 23 years."
[H/T: CNN, The Mirror]