Macaulay Culkin has spoken out about the drug addiction allegations that have followed him for years, denying that he was “pounding $6K of heroin a month.”

Culkin, 35, was said to have suffered a significant heroin addiction in 2012, according to a US magazine.

While he had previously been arrested for marijuana, Xanax, and clonazepam possession, Culkin told the outlet that the public was “not necessarily” correct to be concerned about him.

“No, I was not pounding six grand of heroin every month or whatever,” Culkin told The Guardian in a recent interview. “The thing that bugged me was tabloids wrapping it all in this weird guise of concern. No, you’re trying to shift papers.”

Despite being a mainstay on the silver screen throughout the early 1990s with pop culture favorites such as Home Alone, My Girl, and Richie Rich, Culkin faded from view by the age of 14. Despite reappearing for a variety of movies throughout the next decade, the actor never regained the youthful fame he had acquired.

The former child star also discussed how the paparazzi have impacted his love life, claiming that he is a target since he does not “whore” himself out.

Macaulay Culkin in Soho on March 13
Splash News

“I was thinking about this the other day – I’d crossed the wrong street, picked up a tail, suddenly there s a crush of 20 paparazzi. Then people with cameraphones get involved. I don’t think I’m worthy of that,” Culkin, 35, replied when asked why he thinks people are still interested in him.

After over four decades in the spotlight, both willingly and reluctantly, he has evolved a strategy for dealing with the attention.

He added, “It’s been like that my whole adult life. You take on a prey-like attitude, always scanning the horizon. It’s strange on dates, as it looks like you’re not paying attention. But I’ve stopped trying to think of myself in the third person, because that’s just gonna drive me nuts,” he explained. “Macaulay Culkin is out there, and I’m Mac. You guys can play with the first one.”

But despite the ongoing interference, Culkin stated that he “wouldn’t change a thing”

He continued: “It’s allowed me to become the person I am, and I like me, so I wouldn’t change a thing. Not having to do anything for my dinner, financially, lets me treat every gig like it’s the last.”

Speaking about trying to escape the spotlight he said: “I don’t just turn my back, I actively don’t want it.”

Culkin is perfectly fine these days not having his every professional move planned in a business fuelled by the next big thing. “People feel they have to be in perpetual motion, or drown. I’ve never had a problem saying I’ve got nothing lined up. Maybe I’ll take the next year off,” he explained.

Culkin and his publicist portray the interview as a comeback story, however Culkin has no intentions to return to work and is instead preoccupied with weird side ventures, such as the Pizza Underground, which has earned him much ridicule.

“It’s one of those good ideas you have when you’re drunk, and you wake up and forget about it, Culkin said. “But we’re taking it to the end of the joke. We have an album coming out, a vinyl pressing with a children’s choir, a symphony orchestra. We’re giving it away, our gift to the world.”