Why Macaulay Culkin can't watch Home Alone any more

Macaulay Culkin shows off the Home Alone face.

Macaulay Culkin doesn't leave his house at Christmas time because Home Alone is always on TV.

The 37-year-old actor shot to fame following the success of the first movie in the comedy series in 1990, but because the film and its sequel, 'Home Alone 2: Lost in New York', which dropped two years later, are repeated so much over the festive period and at Thanksgiving, he can't bear to go outside.

He said: "It's background radiation at Christmas time. I've had people who want to watch it with me, which is both flattering and creepy.

"When I'm watching it I'm remembering that day on the set, like how I was hiding my Pepsi behind the couch.

"I can't watch it the same way other people do.

"I definitely don't [go out of the house at Christmas and Thanksgiving.] It's my season. It's Macaulay season. I try to go out less and less around that time of year."

Macaulay Culkin in his interview with host Ellen DeGeneres. Photo/AP

The movie poster features Macaulay pulling a shocked face as his burglar-battling character Kevin McCallister with his hands on his cheeks, and while the actor is still asked to perform the pose in the street on a regular basis, he politely refuses such requests.

When asked what he says when he's asked to do the face, he replied: "I'm like, 'No, been there done that already. I'm 37 now, OK.' "

Macaulay starred in 14 movies from 1988 to 1994, culminating with Richie Rich, but he opted to take a nine-year break from the film industry before reappearing in 2003's Party Monster because he wanted to go to school and hang around with kids his own age.

Speaking on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, he added: "I was tired of it. I did like 14 movies in six years. It's a lot. I was away from home a lot, I was away from school. I needed to grow and develop as a person. I was actually looking forward to going to school. I lived the dream.

"It was great to be around people my own age for once. I'm always treated differently. At the same time that's the kind of stuff you have to figure out.

"It was the smartest thing I possibly could've done, taking eight years off. (sic)"

Watch the full interview below:

- Bang! Showbiz