News | Entertainment
8 Dec 2025 8:39
NZCity News
NZCity CalculatorReturn to NZCity

  • Start Page
  • Personalise
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • Finance
  • Shopping
  • Jobs
  • Horoscopes
  • Lotto Results
  • Photo Gallery
  • Site Gallery
  • TVNow
  • Dating
  • SearchNZ
  • NZSearch
  • Crime.co.nz
  • RugbyLeague
  • Make Home
  • About NZCity
  • Contact NZCity
  • Your Privacy
  • Advertising
  • Login
  • Join for Free

  •   Home > News > Entertainment

    Brenda Song and Macaulay Culkin bonded over the "trauma" of child stardom

    The 36-year-old actress found fame in the early 2000s when she played London Tipton on the Disney Channel sitcom 'The Suite Life of Zack and Cody' and admitted that by the time she met Macaulay - who became one of the biggest child stars of the 1990s following his role in 'Home Alone - in 2017, they were able to understand each other's struggles that have stemmed from those early years


    Speaking on the 'Sibling Revelry' podcast, she explained: "It wasn't one of the first things we connected on, but I think there was this unspoken understanding that we've had certain trauma that we both share that we didn't even quite realise stems from us being child actors.

    "Certain anxieties or stressors or even triggers that you don't realise. You don't realize as a kid, how much that affects you as an adult."

    The 'Last Showgirl' star - who has sons Dakota, three, and two-year-old Carson with Macaulay - admitted that her relationship has changed how she and her significant other view the industry, although she still "loves" being in it after more than three decades.

    She said: ""[It] impacted how we look at our relationship with the industry now, how he looks at it and how I look at it.

    "I always say, like, I've been in this business for 33 years, and I still love it. Something must be wrong with me."

    After starring in hits such as 'My Girl' and 'The Pagemaster', Macaulay took a hiatus in 1995 and returned almost a decade later, and Brenda is pleased to have someone who "really understands" what it is like to be in showbusiness.

    She said: "It's also been really nice, though, to have someone who truly just really understands.

    "He gets what I do on a different kind of level, and it's been so nice. I've never had that before."

    © 2025 Bang Showbiz, NZCity

     Other Entertainment News
     06 Dec: Critics choice nominations 2026: Sinners scores 17 nods, One Battle After Another earns 14
     05 Dec: Alicia Silverstone has offered a $50,000 reward for the return of two missing giraffes
     05 Dec: Tracy Morgan has fed 19,000 families through his charity work
     05 Dec: Ethan Hawke's wife Ryan Shawhughes fled the set of his new movie Blue Moon after seeing his "combover"
     05 Dec: Sydney Sweeney is "handling" fame "incredibly well", according to her Christy co-star Ben Foster
     05 Dec: Ray J has been arrested over allegations he pulled a gun on his ex-wife Princess Love during a Thanksgiving day livestream
     04 Dec: The Prince and Princess of Wales have congratulated Robert Irwin on his Dancing With the Stars win
     Top Stories

    RUGBY RUGBY
    Kiwi running prodigy Sam Ruthe has comfortably won the national schools 1500 metres title in Hastings More...


    BUSINESS BUSINESS
    Signs of a brighter economy in the year to come More...



     Today's News

    Business:
    Signs of a brighter economy in the year to come 8:07

    International:
    How Europe is gearing up to follow Australia's teen social media ban 7:57

    Motorsports:
    Max Verstappen won the battle but Lando Norris has won the war for the Formula 1 crown 7:57

    Business:
    New Zealand's economic recovery is gathering steam - casting optimism for the year ahead 7:47

    Law and Order:
    The family of a 10-year-old boy subjected to a sexual assault in the public toilets of a Lower Hutt playground, says the teen attacker's mental and intellectual conditions created a "foreseeable risk" 7:37

    International:
    Future uncertain for hundreds of vulnerable people amid group home closure fears 7:27

    Motoring:
    F1 Abu Dhabi: Lando Norris wins world title, Max Verstappen wins Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri second 7:07

    Cricket:
    A frustrated captain Ben Stokes can feel his England side's chance of winning the Ashes slipping away 6:47

    Law and Order:
    A 21-year-old man is due in court today charged with murder and other offences in relation to the death of an Auckland man in Mount Wellington on Friday 5:17

    Politics:
    An academic is calling for a full inquiry into the Jevon McSkimming scandal after revelations which emerged over the weekend 5:17


     News Search






    Power Search


    © 2025 New Zealand City Ltd