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A heartbroken Macaulay Culkin had the sweetest tribute to ‘Home Alone’ co-star and screen mum Catherine O’Hara, who has died aged 71

Michael White. Updated January 30th, 2026

Movie and TV fans are mourning the loss of one of the all-time comedy greats this weekend, with the announcement that Catherine O’Hara has died, aged 71.

Canadian-born O’Hara was well-known to generations of movie and TV fans as the star of the first two Home Alone movies, as well as Beetlejuice, Best In Show and the TV comedy Schitt’s Creek.

And it was Macaulay Culkin, her co-star in her most famous movies, that led with the most poignant of tributes to his screen mum.

Posting on Instagram, it reads:

“Mama.
I thought we had more time.

I wanted more.
I wanted to sit in a chair next to you.
I heard you.
But I had so much to say.

I love you.

I’ll see you later.”

Culkin, now aged 45, was barely 10 years old when he was cast as Kevin McAllister in perennial Christmas favourite Home Alone (1990). O’Hara played his on-screen mother Kate. Culkin’s on-screen father Peter was played by John Heard, who died in 2017.

And people have been immensely moved by Culkin’s heartbroken words.

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Source: Twitter/X/PopCrave