Jonathan Taylor Thomas was a household name before he reached his teen years, but fame at such a young age can be difficult to deal with.
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00:00 Jonathan Taylor Thomas was a household name before he reached his teen years, but fame
00:05 at such a young age can be difficult to deal with.
00:08 Like many kids, Jonathan Taylor Thomas' parents split when he was little.
00:12 Even though he has never talked at length publicly about the circumstances surrounding
00:16 the demise of his parents' relationship, it's often mentioned in profiles of the star both
00:20 back then and now.
00:21 Thomas' early years were pretty normal by American standards.
00:24 He was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the second child of Claudine Gonsalves and Stephen
00:29 Weiss.
00:30 It didn't take long for them to recognize Thomas' star potential, and over the next
00:33 few years, the youngster began modeling and starring in multiple commercials.
00:38 While his career was on the up, his parents' relationship was going down.
00:41 Shortly after he landed his most famous role as Randy in Home Improvement, Gonsalves and
00:45 Weiss divorced.
00:47 Thomas moved to Los Angeles with his mom and brother.
00:50 As the years ticked by, America watched as Jonathan Taylor Thomas grew up from a sweet
00:54 nine-year-old to a self-assured young man.
00:57 Thomas adored Home Improvement, his character Randy, and the on-screen chemistry between
01:01 the members of the fictional Taylor family.
01:03 "My hot rod!"
01:05 "You always said you wanted a snowmobile."
01:09 In 1996, Thomas was 15 years old and stealing the hearts of tweens across the globe.
01:15 On paper, that seems like every young actor's dream, but all that glitters isn't always
01:19 gold.
01:20 In an interview with Premier magazine that year, Thomas admitted that the bright lights
01:23 of Hollywood and everything associated with it didn't quite appeal to him.
01:27 He told journalist Christopher Connelly,
01:29 "You can't be trapped in this bubble called the acting industry.
01:32 The industry is neurotic and weird, and so when I go home and I play basketball with
01:36 my friends, I'm not Jonathan Taylor Thomas.
01:38 I'm just Jonathan.
01:39 I don't like hanging out with other actors and actresses."
01:43 Even at this early age, Thomas seemed to have an aversion to the A-list lifestyle.
01:47 In contrast to his contemporaries, like his Tom and Huck co-star Brad Renfrow, who allegedly
01:51 ran wild on the set of the movie, Thomas seemed to back away from the limelight rather than
01:55 run into it.
01:57 There are rules and conditions for underage actors working in the industry, such as the
02:01 limit to how many hours they can work a day, a set amount of school time on set, and more.
02:05 With that being said, that doesn't necessarily take away the stressful side of the job.
02:10 After all, an actor is still an actor, and even youngsters are expected to work on their
02:13 lines and hold up their end of the bargain.
02:16 Jonathan Taylor Thomas was on the set of Home Improvement for nine and a half hours a day.
02:20 According to an interview he gave to People early on in the show's run, his incredible
02:24 work ethic left little time for him to just be a kid.
02:27 "When you're on a TV series like me, there's not much time for working on other stuff."
02:32 He elaborated,
02:33 "You have school, friends, learning your lines, and making sure your performance is up to
02:37 speed.
02:38 I can't tell you how many shows I've done with full-blown migraine headaches."
02:41 Migraines often require sufferers to lay down in a dark room with painkillers and a cold
02:46 compress — not exactly compatible with extra-long days on brightly lit sets.
02:50 Nevertheless, Thomas pushed through, exhibiting the dedication of a star far beyond his years.
02:56 Sitcoms have always been a cornerstone of American television.
02:59 For actors, landing a part in a successful TV show can be good for much more than just
03:03 a steady paycheck.
03:04 It can often lead to bigger and better things, giving them a platform that puts them at the
03:08 forefront of a casting director's mind.
03:10 However, Jonathan Taylor Thomas opted to voluntarily leave Home Improvement in the first half of
03:15 the final season of the show.
03:16 "You're a very odd boy, but I'm gonna miss you."
03:21 "I'll miss you too."
03:22 Fans didn't quite understand Thomas' decision, and were hoping he would return for the show's
03:26 finale to bring a well-rounded conclusion to the beloved program.
03:30 As it turns out, Patricia Richardson, who played Thomas' mother Jill on the show, and
03:34 Tim Allen, who played his father Tim, weren't all that happy with his decision to snub the
03:37 finale either.
03:39 While talking to TV Guide at the time, Richardson said,
03:41 "It's a pretty sore point around here.
03:43 I think there were a lot of bad feelings all along."
03:46 Richardson went on to speculate that Thomas may have received some bad advice.
03:50 As for Allen, he admitted that there was tension between himself and Thomas, which stemmed
03:54 from Allen not understanding Thomas' reasoning that he wanted to go to school.
03:58 Allen continued,
03:59 "I mentioned publicly that I was confused.
04:01 I don't think he liked that."
04:02 No one seems to know the full reason except for Thomas himself, but one thing is for sure
04:07 — it was a sad ending to a glittering era of his career.
04:11 Being the center of gossip and speculation comes hand-in-hand with being famous.
04:15 It's part of being in the public eye.
04:16 The paychecks might be huge, but it comes at a different price.
04:19 Jonathan Taylor Thomas may have been a minor during his peak Hollywood years, but that
04:23 didn't stop plenty of people from speculating about his sexuality.
04:27 It was such a talking point that when Thomas appeared on The Tonight Show in 1998, host
04:31 Jay Leno brought up the rumors.
04:33 Luckily, Thomas was able to take it in stride.
04:35 "You know, I mean, pretty much in Hollywood you're not anyone until it's rumored that
04:40 you're gay, so you know, I wasn't that upset about it."
04:42 "And not that there's anything wrong with that!"
04:44 That didn't seem to be enough for Leno, though, who ended up asking Thomas point-blank.
04:48 "Yeah, but, but, you're not, are you gay?"
04:49 "No, no, no, no, no, I'm not."
04:50 "You know, it's fine.
04:51 You know, if you want to come out, it's fine."
04:56 It's easy to write this off as late-night banter, but at the time, Thomas was still
05:00 under 18.
05:01 It's not a stretch to suggest the constant speculation may have played a part in his
05:05 retreat from the public eye.
05:07 As long as there have been celebrities, the public fascination with good-looking ones
05:11 has never waned.
05:12 If they're likable, then it's even more electric, with die-hard fans often going to great lengths
05:16 to see their favorite stars in the flesh.
05:18 Jonathan Taylor Thomas understands this firsthand.
05:21 In the '90s, he was one of the most popular teen idols of his time, meaning that his legion
05:26 of fans would often hunt him down in the obscurest of places.
05:29 According to Vice, he was even found by fans during production on Wild America and the
05:33 Backwoods of Canada.
05:35 Some actors love to be followed and be recognized, but Thomas had a much more complex feeling
05:39 toward a superstardom than that of a typical teenage boy.
05:42 Some in his position may have taken full advantage of this amount of attention, but the actor
05:46 told The New York Times that while he appreciated his fans, he couldn't pander to them completely.
05:51 He admitted,
05:52 "You are a part of their life, and there is a lot that is owed them, but it's difficult
05:55 because you want to make everyone happy.
05:57 But if you try to do that, you're setting yourself up for failure."
06:00 By 2013, Thomas had been gone from the industry for nearly a decade.
06:04 He enrolled at Harvard after leaving Home Improvement, and eventually went on to spend
06:08 two years at St. Andrew's in Scotland.
06:10 As the years ticked by, fans became resigned to the fact that his time in the entertainment
06:14 industry may have just been a flash in the pan.
06:17 However, Thomas did end up making a return to acting almost 15 years after exiting the
06:21 sitcom to appear alongside his former TV dad Tim Allen on his show Last Man Standing.
06:26 "Hi, Mike Baxter."
06:27 "Hey."
06:28 "You're a star, and you look familiar."
06:33 Allen divulged to Yahoo!
06:34 Entertainment that Thomas knew the show's director, John Pasquin, and had been shadowing
06:38 him to learn more about directing.
06:39 He continued,
06:40 "Thomas is interested in directing.
06:42 He's always been wonderful as an actor.
06:44 Then he went to college and he found other interests.
06:46 He graduated and he came back, and loves directing, loves working with actors."
06:51 While it sounds like Thomas was tentatively trying to find his way back into the business,
06:55 it didn't exactly come back to him naturally.
06:57 Allen said that his longtime friend was very shy and nervous on set, but there was more
07:01 to it.
07:02 He admitted,
07:03 "He worried whether he still had it, and he didn't want to do this because he's had other
07:06 stuff in mind."
07:07 By the time the show wrapped, Jonathan Taylor Thomas had appeared in four episodes of Last
07:11 Man Standing between 2013 and 2015.
07:14 Each time he appeared, fans were hopeful it would mean that he was on his way to a more
07:18 permanent return to the industry, but it didn't quite pan out that way.
07:21 Despite Allen's previous statements about Thomas "loving the work," the star hasn't
07:25 had an acting credit since his last appearance on the show, be it as an actor, director,
07:29 or otherwise.
07:30 This further retreat from the spotlight seems like an odd choice, given what Thomas told
07:34 Entertainment Weekly in 2011.
07:36 Back then, he said,
07:37 "I'd eventually like to work behind the camera.
07:40 That's not to say I would never act again, I'm not quite sure to be honest.
07:43 I still have a passion for TV and film, and could see myself working in it."
07:47 Of course, Thomas did follow that statement up with Last Man Standing, but it begs the
07:51 question, what changed after his work on the show?
07:54 It still holds out hope for the actor's resurgence, but Thomas' memories of attention-hungry fans,
07:59 nosy journalists, and grueling work schedules may just be enough to last him a lifetime.
08:04 .
08:05 (gentle music)
08:07 (gentle music)