Macaulay Culkin has always kept his personal life out of the media. The actor of Home Alone fame has tried his best at keeping his friendships and romances a secret.

However, Hollywood is not a place where secrets remain secrets for long. In Culkin's case, however, his dating life has flown under the radar.

His almost-a-decade long relationship with ex girlfriend Mila Kunis is an example of that. They dated for a quite a bit, but only a few knew about it, and even fewer knew the details of their romance.

Macaulay Culkin and Mila Kunis’s Dating Life

Culkin and Kunis began dating in the early days of their acting career. He was a bit ahead of her in terms of fame, but both of them were child stars turning into adults in Hollywood when they first met.

Their relationship became public knowledge in 2002, despite neither of them admitting to a romance with the other. And theirs was a long-distance relationship — Culkin was in New York City, Kunis was in LA.

Culkin and Kunis met after his divorce with Rachel Miner. Kunis apparently changed his mindset of being "abstinent or asexual or whatever."

Macaulay Culkin with his ex girlfriend, Mila Kunis.

Macaulay Culkin with his ex girlfriend, Mila Kunis. (Photo: Twitter)

They were also in different places in their professional lives.

Kunis's career was just taking off after her appearances on That 70s Show (in which she starred alongside her now husband Ashton Kutcher). As for Culkin, he was in semi-retirement after the Home Alone movies and the enormous attention the movies brought him.

By 2003, their relationship made so much noise that he had to publicly dispel rumors of engagement.

In doing this, he admitted to a relationship with her, saying, "I have a very, very beautiful, very wonderful relationship with somebody. It's going very well … We try to keep our private lives private and our public lives separate … but it's a good thing."

Speculations do not die off this easily, especially not in Hollywood, and the engagement rumors were still going strong until 2007. It was then Kunis's turn to deny them.

In 2007, six years into their relationship, the actress, during an interview with Parade, jokingly denied the rumors.

"I’ve been engaged. I think I’ve already been married. And I’m sure I have a child somewhere. I’m waiting to have something else happen," she said sarcastically before clarifying that she was not engaged, neither married, and she definitely did not have a child with Culkin.

"no one seems to listen. And next week I’ll be engaged again," she added. "What is wrong with these people? Half the time you can say they misconstrued facts. But, more often than not, they just make stuff up."

In the same interview, she admitted they were "incredibly private" and that they relished the privacy they had been able to keep. Kunis even called him "probably the most brilliant person I’ve ever met" and "an incredible human being."

She praised him for his down-to-earth nature and ability to keep himself grounded despite having a turbulent upbringing he had.

Kunis said in 2009 that they had practically grown up together, and he provided her with incredible stability. She accredited him for becoming the person she did and called him her "steady rock" in her life. They also attended Michael Jackson, his dear friend's funeral together in September 2009.

This, in hindsight, turned out to be the peak of their relationship, and it was all downhill from here.

Mila Kunis Takes Responsibility for Their Break Up

The lovebirds shocked the world in 2011 when they announced they had broken up after eight years together. It was she who messed up in the end, but that would only come out years after.

In their announcement, her publicist said they remained on good terms, and the break up was "amicable." A year later, during her conversation with Elle UK (via HuffPost), she was still singing praises of Culkin, who she thanked for helping her settle into life so young.

Only in 2016 did she reveal more about how things ended, although none of them have ever revealed the exact details. She explained to Howard Stern that she and Culkin did not have a normal relationship, mostly because of his fame.

Then, in 2018, she admitted she was the one who "f-ed up" in their "horrible horrible" break up. She regretted what she did and how she went about with the breakup, even calling herself an "a-hole" for that.

She said they were "probably not as friendly as [they] could be, sort of contradicting their amicable" breakup announcement.

However, the rumors about Kunis cheating on Culkin with Kutcher were not true, and they did not hold grudges, either.

As for now, both are in committed relationships — Kunis has two kids with her now husband, Kutcher, whereas Culkin is a father of one with his girlfriend, Brenda Song, who he has been dating since 2017.