Macaulay Culkin and Brenda Song Talk Marriage Plans, Rule Out Eloping

Macaulay Culkin and his long-term love Brenda Song are one of the most casually adorable star couples around — married or not.

In a joint interview for Cosmopolitan’s Love Issue, Culkin joked, “Do you not want to marry me?” as the pair discussed their wedding plans — or lack of!

Culkin, 44, and Song, 36, have been together for almost a decade and share two young sons, Dakota, 4, and Carson, 3. But juggling young kids alongside their careers means that planning a wedding has slipped way down the priority list. “We talked about eloping,” said Song. “But I was like, ‘If we eloped, my mom would have a heart attack that she wasn’t going to be there …’” Culkin added: “I wouldn’t even!”

Despite not yet committing to a wedding date, the two former child stars (Song rose to fame via Disney’s The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, while Culkin is best-known for huge movies like Home Alone) are deadly serious about each other — even though, when they first met in 2014, they clashed.

Recalling that they were introduced by mutual friend and colleague Seth Green, Song said she wasn’t amused when Culkin made jokes about Dads, her ill-fated Fox sitcom with Green. “He was trying to be funny about our show being canceled and I was not having it,” she said. Culkin added: “She was thoroughly unimpressed by me is what I will say.”

Thankfully, things went a lot better when Green got them together again to shoot 2017 indie movie Changeland. They even discovered they both liked the same baby name, Dakota — the name of Culkin’s late sister who tragically died in a car accident in 2008 at the age of 30.

“I saw this person he put out there — it was a product of this armor that he’s put on to protect himself,” said Song. “But I could see that that wasn’t really who he was; I could see these glimpses of this really interesting, very sensitive, very intelligent, artistic person that he doesn’t really let show.” She added: “We were both very hurt in past relationships and kept expectations low.”

Soon, though, they were dating seriously, meeting each other’s families and making plans for the future — before Culkin proposed via 21 individually wrapped garden gnomes. “I’d never felt this way before,” said Culkin. “I believed in her. I mean, I believed in people before, but I believed in her down to my bone marrow. You know what I mean? I put it behind the armor though, behind that shield.”

Song added: “When I met Mack, there was so much more of me that I hadn’t figured out. He made me such a bigger person and I was like, Oh my god. I didn’t realize that there were so many things I didn’t know about myself.”

The adorable Cosmo interview is not the first time the pair have publicly declared their love for each other. In December 2023, when Culkin was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, he also shared his appreciation for his fiancée. “You’re my champion,” he said. “The only person happier for me today than I am. You’re not only the best woman I’ve ever known, you’re the best person I’ve ever known. You’ve given me all my purpose. You’ve given me family.”