Macaulay Culkin Mourns ‘Home Alone’ Star Catherine O’Hara with Heartfelt Tribute
Macaulay Culkin is mourning the loss of his “Home Alone” co-star and on-screen mom, Catherine O’Hara, following her sudden passing.
The 45-year-old former child star shared a touching tribute on Instagram Friday, honoring the bond he maintained with O’Hara well into adulthood.
In his post, Culkin included a side-by-side image: one showing O’Hara embracing a young Culkin in the iconic Christmas film, and another capturing the actress holding him in a similar hug during his Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in 2024.
“Mama. I thought we had time. I wanted more. I wanted to sit in a chair next to you. I heard you,” he wrote, expressing his grief and love for the late actress.
“Mama. I thought we had time. I wanted more,” Culkin wrote on Instagram.
“But I had so much more to say. I love you. I’ll see you later,” he added, expressing his grief over the loss of the actress.
Catherine O’Hara passed away on January 30 at the age of 71. Her agency, CAA, told Page Six that her death followed “a brief illness.”
According to the Los Angeles Fire Department, paramedics arrived at O’Hara’s Brentwood home at 4:48 a.m. on Friday. She was rushed to a Los Angeles hospital in serious condition but later passed away.
The actress was rushed to a Los Angeles hospital in “serious condition” early Friday morning, though the cause of her death has not yet been confirmed. According to a 911 call, the “Schitt’s Creek” star had been experiencing difficulty breathing before being hospitalized.
Macaulay Culkin shared a close bond with the Emmy-winning actress, a connection that was on full display during his 2024 Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony. In a moving speech, O’Hara called him the “dearest thing,” bringing both stars to tears.
“‘Home Alone’ was, is, and always will be a global sensation,” O’Hara said, crediting Culkin as the reason “families all over the world can’t let a year go by without watching and loving” the holiday classic.
“She had a most excellent script and a wonderful director. But it is Macaulay’s perfect performance as Kevin McCallister that gave us that little every-boy on an extraordinary adventure. I know you worked really hard. I know you did. But you made acting look like the most natural thing in the world to do,” she added.
In 2024, O’Hara honored Culkin with a heartfelt speech that brought both stars to tears as he accepted his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The “SCTV” alum, who shared two sons with her husband Bo Welch, praised the actor for his extraordinary early success. At just 10 years old, Culkin had already become a “superstar,” a “moneymaker,” and “one of the hottest leading young men in Hollywood.”
“How does anyone survive that? Well, I believe you have to possess a certain quality — a gift that dear John Hughes recognized in you, Macaulay. Your sense of humor. It’s a sign of intelligence in a child, and a key to surviving life at any age,” she said.
“And you have, from what I see, brought that sweet yet twisted, totally relatable sense of humor to everything you have chosen to do since ‘Home Alone,’” O’Hara added.
