Many millennials who grew up watching *My Girl* likely still feel a bit traumatized by the movie’s infamous death scene from 1991. It turns out that filming that moment was just as terrifying as it seemed.
Macauley Culkin, who portrayed the young Thomas J., faced a shocking twist: real bees were used during the scene. On the *On Film… with Kevin McCarthy Podcast*, Culkin expressed his surprise at learning this.
“I worked with bees,” Culkin, now 45, explained. “Honestly, if they had asked me today, I wouldn’t do it.” He recalled how the crew applied a queen bee scent to his fingers to attract the bees: “They were drawn to my hand, thinking I wasn’t a threat.”
“They actually released thousands of bees at me. Just picture that,” he said, quite seriously. “It was real. I wouldn’t do that today.”
Culkin humorously added about the filming, “A bee came right in front of my face! I was instructed to wave my hand to make it look better on camera.” He explained how he had to quickly wash up and get away from the bees as soon as they were done shooting. “Once they yelled ‘cut,’ I had to scrub my hands with hot soapy water and then sprint into the woods,” he noted.
Reflecting on the filming, he mentioned some advice he received from a beekeeper: “Humans can run faster than bees can fly.” He thought to himself, “But I’m just 10. How fast do you expect me to be?” Culkin went on to say he filmed four takes, and while he felt a needle against his neck from the prop, he was never actually stung.
Rising to fame in 1990 with *Home Alone*, where he played Kevin McCallister, Culkin became a household name as a child star.
Earlier this year, on the *Sibling Revelry* podcast, he shared his reasons for stepping away from acting at such a young age, despite his notable success. “Why did you quit? Acting?” host Oliver Hudson asked. Culkin straightforwardly responded, “I was tired.” He recounted telling his dad he needed a break, but felt pressured by him, stating, “I felt like I was walking into a trap.”
According to Culkin, the only moment he truly felt able to quit was when his parents divorced. He hasn’t spoken to his father, Christopher “Kit” Culkin, in over three decades.
“Yeah, he deserves it. He has seven kids, now four grandchildren, and none of them want anything to do with him,” he remarked.
Describing his father, Culkin labeled him as “abusive” and a “narcissist.” After his parents separated, a judge mandated that he still spend time with his father, which Culkin resisted. “I didn’t want anything to do with my awful father. He was, like, the worst dad ever,” he explained. He even told his lawyer that he wished to be jailed rather than see him, adding, “I dare them to arrest the most famous kid in the world.”
