Macaulay Culkin has emerged from his notoriously private life to put the rumors to rest.
"No, I was not pounding six grand of heroin every month or whatever," the 35-year-old former child star declared to The Guardian.
Despite being a fixture of the silver screen throughout the early 1990s with pop culture classics like Home Alone, My Girl and Richie Rich, Culkin retreated from the spotlight by the time he was just 14. Despite resurfacing for projects scattered throughout the next decade, the actor never returned to quite the level of stardom he had achieved as an adolescent.
Still, his seclusion from Hollywood, an arrest for drug possession, a two-year teenage marriage and his grungy adult appearance had only further lured the paparazzi. "The thing that bugged me was tabloids wrapping it all in this weird guise of concern. No, you're trying to shift papers," he continued to the newspaper.
In an industry fueled by the next big thing, Culkin is perfectly content these days with not having his every career move choreographed. "People feel they have to be in perpetual motion, or drown. I've never had a problem saying I've got nothing lined up. Maybe I'll take the next year off," he explained.
When he's not pining for free time, the actor and frontman of the Pizza Underground, which has announced its looming disbandment, finds bliss hustling behind the scenes. "Home is where my boots are. I'm a big fan of jumping on people's tourbuses, making myself useful, doing load-ins and outs," he revealed to the outlet. "I do everything except the merch table. I tried that, but ... we didn't sell anything."
After nearly four decades in the limelight, both willingly and begrudgingly, he has developed a way of managing the scrutiny.
"You take on a prey-like attitude, always scanning the horizon. It's strange on dates, as it looks like you're not paying attention. But I've stopped trying to think of myself in the third person, because that's just gonna drive me nuts," he explained. "Macaulay Culkin is out there, and I'm Mac. You guys can play with the first one."
Still, despite his aversion to publicity, there's one name he's probably less interested in hearing than his own: Donald Trump. "He's like the Candyman, we have to stop saying his name."