Kieran Culkin Says 'It's Funny to Even' Refer to Emma Stone as an 'Ex': 'She's Lovely and Great'

"To me, she's just a really good friend of mine and my wife's," the 'Succession' star told 'Rolling Stone'

Emma Stone and Kieran Culkin 2009 in New York City; Kieran Culkin and Emma Stone attend the 29th Annual Critics Choice Awards Emma Stone and Kieran Culkin 2009 in New York City; Kieran Culkin and Emma Stone attend the 29th Annual Critics Choice Awards
Emma Stone and Kieran Culkin. Photo:

 Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic; Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Critics Choice Association

Kieran Culkin couldn't be more grateful for Emma Stone's enduring friendship.

The Succession actor, 41, and Poor Things actress, 35, go way back, having dated from 2010 to 2011 after they met while making the 2010 movie Paper Man.

But according to Culkin, "It's funny to even say 'ex' " when referring to Stone today, as he noted in a recent interview with Rolling Stone. "To me, she’s just a really good friend of mine and my wife’s. She’s lovely and great."

Both actors worked together again on 2013's Movie 43, and are now married and have children. Stone met her husband, writer Dave McCary, while working on an episode of Saturday Night Live in 2016. They tied the knot in September 2020 and welcomed their first child, daughter Louise, in March 2021.

Culkin has been married to Jazz Charton since 2013, after first meeting at a bar in New York City the previous year. They share two kids: daughter Kinsey, 4, and son Wilder, 2.

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Kieran Culkin, Emma Stone, 2013 in Movie 43 Kieran Culkin, Emma Stone, 2013 in Movie 43
Movie 43.

Relativity Media/Courtesy Everett Collection

Culkin and Stone have both been taking awards season by storm as of late, and even reunited at the 2024 Critics Choice Awards earlier this month.

Backstage at the Jan. 14 ceremony, the friends were seen sharing a hug and celebrating together after they both won individual acting honors for their work in the movie Poor Things and on the final season of Succession.

Kieran Culkin and Emma Stone attend the 29th Annual Critics Choice Awards at Barker Hangar on January 14, 2024 in Santa Monica, California. Kieran Culkin and Emma Stone attend the 29th Annual Critics Choice Awards at Barker Hangar on January 14, 2024 in Santa Monica, California.
Kieran Culkin and Emma Stone at the Critics Choice Awards in Santa Monica, California, on Jan. 14, 2024.

Kevin Mazur/Getty

In his recent Rolling Stone interview, Culkin raved about how he met Stone "right at the beginning of the huge launch" of her career, and "got to watch all that firsthand."

"And I remember at the time that I was a little more aware of the direction she was going than she was," he added of the Oscar winner. "She would be like, 'Oh my God! I just got this opportunity ... ' And I’d be like, 'Yeah, but of course you did! Everyone loves you and you’re great.' "

The Scott Pilgrim vs. the World actor went on to recall when Stone was asked to host SNL for the first time, which led her to "letting out a blood-curdling scream on the phone."

"I came running over thinking somebody had died, and she’s weeping, and I’m rubbing her back thinking I have to get a Scotch ready for her or something, and she was like, 'I’ve just been asked to host SNL!' And I gave her the biggest f-----' hug," Culkin said.

He added, "It was so great to be a part of that moment because that was her life goal, to host SNL, and she achieved it at 21. She didn’t think she was in that field and I was like, 'Of course you are!' "

Stone served as a producer on Culkin's new film A Real Pain, which just premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

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