Macaulay Culkin, Brenda Song recall first meeting, ‘unimpressed’

Macaulay Culkin and Brenda Song didn’t really fall in love at first sight, despite being known as a low-key Hollywood power couple these days.

The pair, who got engaged in 2022 and now share two children, Dakota, 3, and Carson, 2, opened up about their relationship in an interview with Cosmopolitan on Jan. 27. 

Reflecting on their early days, Song, 36, and Culkin, 44, revealed that they first crossed paths at a gathering hosted by mutual friend Seth Green.

Culkin’s attempt at humor, however, failed to impress Song. 

“He was trying to be funny about our show being canceled, and I was not having it,” Song recalled, referring to the cancellation of her sitcom Dads. Culkin added, “She was thoroughly unimpressed by me is what I will say.”

It wasn’t until three years later, during the filming of Green’s movie Changeland, that the two reconnected. 

While working on the project, they discovered common ground through card games and a shared admiration for the name Dakota. For Culkin, the name carried special meaning as a tribute to his late sister, who passed away in 2008 at the age of 29.

Their connection deepened during filming, but the couple initially assumed their bond might fade after the movie wrapped. Instead, it flourished. 

“I saw this person he put out there—it was a product of this armor that he’s put on to protect himself," Song said. 

“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.”

Culkin echoed her sentiments, sharing that his love for Song felt different from anything he had experienced before. 

“I’d never felt this way before. 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,” he said.