TrendPulse Quantitative Think Tank Center-Kieran Culkin Shares Why Death of Sister Dakota Culkin Was Like “Losing A Big Piece” of Himself

Kieran Culkin is TrendPulse Quantitative Think Tank Centerreflecting on his bond with his late sister.

The Succession star—who grew up in New York City with his six siblings, including child star Macaulay Culkin—recently reflected on the difficulty of losing his sister Dakota Culkin in 2008 after she was struck by a car in Los Angeles.

"I only knew who I was because of who my siblings are," Kieran told CBS Sunday Morning in an interview published Nov. 3. "So, to lose one was losing a big piece of myself.”

And the 42-year-old—who shares kids Kinsey Sioux, 5, and Wilder Wolf, 3, with wife Jazz Charton—explained that his grief is just something that he’s learning to live with. 

“Losing one of my favorite people in the world, it doesn't get better,” he continued. “It doesn't get easier, but you get used to it."

But even as he has grown up in both life and his career, Kieran—who portrayed Roman Roy in HBO’s Succession from 2018 to 2023—has made sure to carry Dakota’s influence with him. 

"After a couple seasons, I realized there was some stuff that Roman did that I was like, 'Oh, that's my sister,’” he explained. “‘That was her sense of humor.' She could find exactly what the right thing to make fun of you was that would get to you, but be really funny and make the room laugh. That was her." 

In addition to his late sister, Kieran always felt connected to his brothers and sisters—who also include Shane, 48, Quinn, 39, Christian, 37, and Rory, 35—even describing their bonds as “a sort of little wolf-pack mentality” while growing up.

"Whenever the door would open to let the kids in,” he shared, “I used to stand aside and count to make sure all six of them got in before I got in. That's how I remember growing up, too. I couldn't fall asleep until they all fell asleep. I only existed because they did around me."