Kieran Culkin Opens Up About How Sister's Tragic Passing Was Like 'Losing A Big Piece Of Myself'

Actor Keiran Culkin has had quite a run of success in recent years. His starring role in the critically acclaimed blockbuster HBO series Succession won him an Emmy earlier this year.

Now his next project, the dramedy A Real Pain in which he stars alongside Jesse Eisenberg, has already won festival awards before even premiering in theaters.

But throughout all this whirlwind success, one thing from his past has never left him—the death of his sister Dakota in 2008 after being hit by a car in California.

Culkin opened up about how Dakota's passing still affects him to this day in an interview with CBS Sunday Morning.

Culkin told Sunday Morning's Mo Rocca:

“I only knew who I was because of who my siblings are."

"So, to lose one was losing a big piece of myself. But losing one of my favorite people in the world — it doesn’t get better, and it doesn’t get easier. It’s just, you get used to it.”

He also said that his sister impacted his Succession character Roman Roy's sardonic and biting sense of humor.

“After a couple seasons on ‘Succession,’ I realized there was some stuff that Roman did that I was like: ‘Oh, that’s my sister. That was her sense of humor.'"

"She could find exactly what the right thing to make fun of you was that would get to you, but be really funny and make the room laugh.”
 

It's easy to see how Dakota's passing may have influenced Culkin's performance in A Real Pain as well. The story centers on two cousins, Culkin and Eisenberg, who travel to Poland to honor their passed grandmother while old family tensions rise to the surface.

You can watch the full segment below.

- YouTubeyoutu.be

Culkin has spoken of Dakota before, telling The Hollywood Reporter in 2021 that he still regularly "weeps" whenever he thinks about her sense of humor.

On social media, people loved Culkin's moving tribute to his sister.

And fans are very excited to see Culkin in A Real Pain.

As for Culkin's sister, her legacy lives on: his famous sibling Macaulay Culkin named his daughter Dakota back in 2021.