Kieran Culkin reflects on death of his sister Dakota 16 years later: 'It doesn’t get easier'

Kieran Culkin is still navigating the loss of his sister Dakota, over a decade after her sudden death.

The A Real Pain star, who grew up in New York City alongside his six siblings, opened up continuing to mourn his sister during a conversation with CBS Sunday Morning, which saw him revisit the Manhattan apartment building where the Culkins spent their childhood.

"We lived in a tight space where it was just seven of us running around. It was like a sort of little wolf-pack mentality," he shared. “Whenever the door would open to let the kids in, I used to stand aside and make sure, and I used to count to make sure all six of them got in before I got in.”

He added, “That's how I remember growing up, too. I couldn't fall asleep until they all fell asleep. Like, I only existed because they did around me."

That tight-knit dynamic made the loss of his sister all the more devastating.

"I only knew who I was because of who my siblings are," Culkin said. "So, to lose one was losing a big piece of myself. Losing one of my favorite people in the world, it doesn't get easier. But you get used to it."

Dakota “Cody” Culkin was killed in December 2008 after she was struck by a car while crossing Lincoln Boulevard in Marina del Rey, Calif., ABC News reported. She was 29.

As he continues to cope with the loss, Culkin shared that he unintentionally found a way to keep Dakota’s memory alive while working on Succession, the hit HBO drama that won him his first Emmy.

“After a couple seasons on Succession, I realized there was some stuff that Roman did that I was like, 'Oh, that's my sister. That was her sense of humor,’” Culkin observed. “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."

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Culkin and Dakota are two of Kit Culkin and Patricia Brentrup’s seven children. The former spouses also share former child star Macaulay Culkin, and his siblings, Rory Culkin, Quinn Culkin, Shane Culkin and Christian Culkin. (Kit additionally shared daughter Jennifer, who died of an overdose in 2000, with ex Adeena VanWagoner.)

Macaulay has made his own efforts to honor the memory of his late sister; when the Home Alone star welcomed his first child with fiancée Brenda Song in 2021, they named the baby boy Dakota.

Culkin — who shares daughter Kinsey, 5, and son Wilder, 3, with wife Jazz Charton — has said that it’s difficult knowing that his kids will never get the chance to meet their late aunt.

“That’s the worst thing that’s ever happened, and there’s no sugarcoating that one,” Culkin said of the loss during a 2021 profile for The Hollywood Reporter. “I accepted at the time that this is going to be forever, and it’s never going to be fine. It’s always going to be devastating. I still weep about it out of nowhere. Something funny she did will pop in the head and make me laugh, and then I’m weeping. Sometimes it’s knowing that she’s not going to meet my kids and they don’t get to have her, and it’s hard to describe what she was like.”

You can watch Culkin’s full CBS Sunday Morning appearance above.