PS - McCauley Culkin's Tribute to Catherine O'Hara Was The Sweetest (and Most Raw)

 

I hope that Catherine O'Hara - never center stage until Schitt's Creek, always in the background doing something wacky, often taken for granted  - can see how much she was actually universally loved 😂

I don't know what it is, these days, with people expect/push you to post something meaningful and coherent on social media immediately after the person dies, when people close to the person are often still processing it and grieving most (we should really stop doing that).

I expected Eugene Levy to take a while, their friendship and collaboration lasting over 50 years, and as Eugene's son, Schitt's Creek Creator/action, Dan Levy said, she was family to them.

He did, and it's also sweet, but you can also tell he probably ran it by people several times first to make sure it wasn't too raw and personal, and likely not in a state to fully express the grief.

I think that Macauley Culkin, on the other hand, let it fly raw, wrote his thoughts down as they came to him -  and knowing that Macauley Culkin legally emancipated from his own abusive show parents (which he never spoke about until recently), but stayed very close to Catherine and called her "Mama," says it all ... 

In fact, she was the one to present his Hollywood Walk of Fame to him, proving that not only was she a better mom than the mother who forgot him twice in the Home Alone movies, but his own parents. 

(His message also kind of implies he got to talk to her on the phone, wishing he was there with her, in the end, doesn't it?)

Macauley Culkin did not have a very good time, in show business, and all but walked away except for rare appearances.

He doesn't names about anyone in the business -  unless - they were exceptionally protective of him/good to him, which is only a handful of people - Catherine being one of them. 

(In other words, if you're in the business and Maccauley Culkin says their name at all, they're usually a keeper. 😊)

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PS - It is super important that we support and protect our child actors more than we have done in the past, Ladies and Gentleman - that we at least suspend our usual judgment and criticism of celebrities in the public eye when they are children, as it has proven to have devastating effects on them.

There also should be more accountability for exposing them to a world they're too innocent and naive to be a part of yet, whether that's the parents, their managers, agents, other cast, or crew.

There are only a handful of actors, directors, and others in the business who have notably done so or tried to do so - Catherine O'Hara was one of them. 

Notable others are John Candy, Jamie Lee Curtis, Robin Williams, Director Chris Columbus, and Ron Howard, and others.

(That doesn't mean they succeed at steering them and protecting them from everything, because there are a lot of predatory people out there, but they notably try.)