Kieran Culkin has opened up about how difficult it was losing his sister Dakota 15 years after her death.
The Succession actor, 42, who briefly appeared alongside his older brother Macaulay Culkin, 44, in Home Alone, grew up in a large family with five other siblings; Shane, Dakota, Quinn, Christian and Rory.
Dakota worked on the opposite side of the camera in art production on the likes of supernatural thriller Lost Soul.
The 29-year-old sadly died in 2008 after being struck by a car while crossing the street in California, US.
“She was taken to UCLA hospital with massive head trauma and passed away on Dec. 10th at 12:45 PM,” the LAPD said in a statement at the time.
“The driver stopped, rendered aid, and identified himself as required by law. Detectives have determined that the driver was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, so no crime was committed.”
Kieran Culkin spoke about the death of his sister Dakota (Paras Griffin/Getty Images)
In an interview with CBS, Kieran has revealed how lost he felt when Dakota died.
“I only knew who I was because of who my siblings are,” he said. “So, to lose one was losing a big piece of myself.
“Losing one of my favourite people in the world, it doesn’t get better.
“It doesn’t get easier, but you get used to it.”
As well as making a name for himself in Succession, Kieran said his character Roman Roy’s humour reminded him of his late sister’s humour.
“After a couple seasons, I realised there was some stuff that Roman did that I was like, ‘Oh, that’s my sister, that was her sense of humour’,” he explained.
Macaulay Culkin (left) with his younger brother Kieran Culkin (right) in 1990 (Dave Benett/Getty Images)
“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. That was her.”
Kieran said he would take on the older brother role in the house when growing up, adding: “Whenever the door would open to let the kids in, I used to stand aside and count to make sure all six of them got in before I got in.
“That’s how I remember growing up, too. I couldn’t fall asleep until they all fell asleep. I only existed because they did around me.”
Dakota’s friend Andrea Poe told PEOPLE that she had recently moved to LA from New York to pursue a career in film production.
“She was very low-key [about her name], but at the same time proud of her siblings,” Poe said. “She was very close to Macaulay. They would talk frequently on the phone or go out to eat.”
When Macaulay and Brenda Song welcomed their first child in 2021, they named him Dakota.
