Macaulay Culkin says Catherine O’Hara’s death hit him hard this year, telling Gentleman’s Journal that he felt the two had unfinished business. The Home Alone star said he felt he owed O’Hara a favor and did not like carrying an outstanding debt.

“I felt that we had unfinished business,” Culkin said, adding that he “definitely” felt he had unfinished business with her and that he did not like having “an outstanding debt.” O’Hara, who played his mother in Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Escape from New York, died on Jan. 30 at 71 years old from a pulmonary embolism with rectal cancer as an underlying condition.

The two had reunited in December 2023, when Culkin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and O’Hara gave a speech at the ceremony. In her remarks, she recalled him as “this beautiful, dear little 10-year-old boy” who was called “a superstar” and “one of the hottest leading young men in Hollywood,” and said his sense of humor was key to surviving life at any age. She also thanked him for including her “your fake mom who left you home alone not once, but twice” and said, “I’m so proud of you.”

Culkin paid tribute to O’Hara on Instagram after her death, a sign of how central she remained to his story long after the Home Alone films turned him into one of the biggest child stars of the 1990s. Those two movies, which combined grossed more than $830 million worldwide, made their onscreen bond part of pop culture and left a mark that lasted far beyond the box office.

That is what gives Culkin’s latest remarks their force. O’Hara’s career stretched more than 50 years and included Second City Television, Beetlejuice, Schitt’s Creek and The Studio, but for Culkin she remained the mother figure who helped define his most famous role. Her death in January closed one chapter; his comments now make clear he still feels the conversation between them ended too soon.