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Kieran Culkin left his wife aghast when he asked her for another child during his Oscars acceptance speech.
The Succession star, 42, who won the award for his role in Jesse Eisenberg’s drama A Real Pain, used his speech to address his wife, the British advertising specialist Jazz Charton, and ask for two more children.
The actor recalled the aftermath of the Emmys last year, when he joked on stage that Charton had promised him a third child if he won the award.
Culkin then informed the audience that he wanted to tell a story – and asked the backstage crew not to cut him off – revealing that his wife had promised him an additional child if he won an Oscar.
“After the show, we’re walking through a parking lot … and she goes, ‘Oh, God, I did say that!’” Culkin said. “‘I guess I owe you a third kid.’ And I turned to her, and I said, ‘Really, I want four.’ And she turned to me – I swear to God, this happened there’s just over a year ago – she said, ‘I will give you four when you win an Oscar.’”
“No pressure,” he added, looking at his wife in the crowd, “but let’s get cracking on those kids, what do’ya say?”
Charton gasped in a mixture of joy and shock, but laughed and nodded along at various points of the story he told.
The pair, who met in a bar in New York in 2012, share two children, Kinsey Sioux and Wilder Wolfe.
Kieran Culkin’s wife Jazz Charton gasped when the actor asked for another child onstage (ABC)
During his Emmys speech last year, Culkin said to his wife: “Thank you for sharing your life with me and giving me two amazing kids… I want more. You said ‘maybe’, if I win! I love you so much.”
In response, Charton could be seen covering her face with her hands in a mixture of joy and shock.
At the Oscars, Culkin beat out fellow nominees Guy Pearce (The Brutalist), Yuriy Borisov (Anora), Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown) and Culkin’s Succession co-star Jeremy Strong, who was nominated for playing Roy Cohn in the Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice.
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Jazz Charton and Kieran Culkin at the 2025 Oscars (Getty Images)
After being presented the award by Robert Downey Jr, Culkin remarked: “Oh my God that’s crazy. I don’t even know, thanks for handing this to me. This means a lot coming from you.
“He’s right, by the way, Jeremy, you’re amazing in The Apprentice. I love your work, it’s f***ing – I’m not supposed to single anyone out here, but you were great, and I’ve already lost whatever speech I prepared.”
The biggest winner on the night was Anora, a film about a New York stripper (Mikey Madison) who embarks on a whirlwind romance with a client, which swept up awards across five categories, including Best Actress for Madison and a record-breaking four prizes for its director Sean Baker.
You can find the complete list of winners here.
