Zachery Ty Bryan on Starting Drinking at 14 While on ‘Home Improvement’

Former Home Improvement recently got honest about hardships and pitfalls of child stardom. According to Entertainment Tonight, an expose in The Hollywood Reporter told Bryan’s story as he went from ABC sitcom star to bitcoin millionaire and eventually to accused criminal after several run-ins with the law and substance abuse issues.

Bryan actually responded to many of the allegations in the story, clearing up many of the details and confirming others in an effort to get a clean restart. According to ET, Bryan talked a bit about his time on the Tim Allen sitcom, initially calling it the “best days of my life” before revealing it is also when his troubles got their roots.

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“Dude, I started drinking when I was 14. Back then, I was going to nightclubs and they would just let me in because I was the kid from Home Improvement,” Bryan said. He later admits that while he’s not an alcoholic, he does have “an issue with drinking” that he works to avoid today.

The Hollywood Reporter story details some of how Bryan’s lifestyle became to much for his marriage, bringing it to an end in September 2020. An issue at the time was Bryan’s decision to copy Armie Hammer’s divorce announcement when revealing his divorce. “Because I literally did not know what to say, and he was literally going through the same thing as I was. I don’t know Armie but I remember thinking that his statement was perfectly said, probably written by a publicist, so I thought, ‘Let’s go,’” Bryan said. He was also quite open about why the marriage ended and the trouble that would follow.

“I was just in party freaking mode. Making movies, traveling, drinking. I wasn’t living the way I was raised, you know what I mean? I was not being a faithful husband, and I was not being the best me,” Bryan said. “I thought I would be able to go out and do whatever I wanted, have fun, come home and be a family man with my kids. That’s not how the real world works.”

Bryan would end up behind bars less than a month after his divorce announcement. The arrest in Oregon stems from an alleged altercation with Johnny Faye Cartwright. Charges against Bryan included felony strangulation, fourth-degree assault, coercion, menacing, harassment and interference with making a police report.

“We didn’t even really get that physical. We got really loud. We were screaming and because we were in a townhome that had [thin walls], everybody could hear,” Bryan admitted. “Johnnie was, at the time, just really upset about my situation. At the end of the day, [the police] throw a bunch of counts at you because they ultimately want you to plead to something.”

He would later have a child with Cartwright in 2022, following with twins in May 2023. According to the actor, he says he is “good friends” with Cartwright, calling them “partners.”