Macaulay Culkin Defends His Relationship With Late Pop Icon Michael Jackson: ‘It’s So Normal’

He’s putting the rumors to rest. Throughout most of his career, the late singer Michael Jackson‘s life was riddled with speculation about his child sex abuse allegations because of his close friendships with young boys. But according to one of Michael’s close friends, actor Macaulay Culkin, there was nothing wrong about their relationship. In a new interview on Michael Rosenbaum’s podcast “Inside of You,” Macaulay defended his friendship with the “Thriller” singer and he explained why they shared such a close bond.

Macaulay recalled the beginning of his friendship with Michael, right as Macaulay’s career was taking off after the 1990 classic film Home Alone when he was just 10 years old. “He reached out to me because a lot of things were happening big and fast with me. And I think…yes, I think he identified with that,” the 38-year-old said. “I mean, at the end of the day, it’s almost easy to try say it was ‘weird’ or whatever, but it wasn’t, because it made sense. Like, we were legitimate…At the end of the day, we were friends — in the most simple [way]. It’s one of my friendships that people question, only because of the fact that he was the most famous person in the world.

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“For me, it’s so normal and mundane. I know it’s a big deal to everybody else, but it was a normal friendship,” Macaulay continued. The actor’s comments come just one week before Leaving Neverland is set to premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. The documentary will feature interview from two men who claim Michael allegedly sexually abused them when they were 7 and 10 years old, according to Rolling Stone.

Michael was accused of sexual abuse in 1993 by a 13-year-old boy, but the investigation into those claims was found inconclusive, according to the LA Times. The singer was accused of child molestation again in 2005, and Macaulay testified during the trial. During his testimony, Macaulay claimed that he was never molested by Michael, according to the Washington Post.