Home Improvement’s Zachery Ty Bryan Felt Like a ‘Cow Going to the Slaughterhouse’ Following Teenage Stardom

As reported by PEOPLE, former Home Improvement star Zachery Ty Bryan recently opened up about the struggles he’s faced following his experience with teenage stardom. While speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Bryan (who played Brad Taylor on the 90’s sitcom) revealed that it “was actually really difficult” for him to achieve job stability after the ABC series wrapped up in 1999.

Bryan told THR, “If you star in a TV show today, you can be in any film that you want, but back then, it was the polar opposite.”

He went on to say, “You were stigmatized as a TV star, and no matter how good your audition, you were never going to be taken seriously. But I kept at it. On the same token, you might get turned down on a bunch of projects, but you could go out at night and hang out with your buddies at Mel’s Diner and everybody knows you.”

The First Kid star went on to reveal why he chose to shift his focus away from acting and instead pursue opportunities in producing in the 2010s. While Bryan did appear in multiple episodes of The Guardians of Justice in 2023, his last credited appearance prior to the superhero show was the 2009 TV movie Thor: Hammer of the Gods.

Bryan said, “What moved me into producing is that it got to the point as an actor where I felt like I didn’t have control over my career anymore. As an actor, you’re like a cow going to the slaughterhouse, and you have to rely on so many people, from an agent to manager to lawyer. I figured I didn’t necessarily have to act anymore, there are other directions to go.”

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Zachery Ty Bryan Said He Still Considers Home Improvement “Some of the Best Days of My Life”

Still, despite experiencing hardships after the popular series concluded, Bryan still considers his time on Home Improvement to be “some of the best days of my life.”

He added, “Obviously, my life flipped upside down and everywhere you go, people know who you are, but I give a lot of credit to my dad and my mom because they always kept me grounded.”

Before moving away from acting, Bryan’s various performances included parts in movies like The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and Dark Tourist, as well as guest-starring roles in television shows like 30 Rock and Veronica Mars.

PEOPLE further noted that back in October 2020, Bryan was arrested for alleged domestic violence involving strangulation and later pleaded guilty to the charge. The former child actor was also in a multiple-offender alcohol program following multiple DUI arrests.

Additionally, Bryan experienced major debt as a result of Bitcoin and was even accused of operating an illegal startup scheme. Sources told THR that Bryan had “duped” them into a cryptocurrency-related scam, and one individual informed the outlet that monetary loss was “a gut punch.”

However, Bryan told THR that he wasn’t “running some shady scam deal or something,” and claimed that he is “in the same boat” as those who invested.

While speaking about his struggles with alcohol abuse as well as the other allegations against him, the former child star said, “I do know when things get in the way of who you’re meant to be, where you’re supposed to go and what God has planned for you.”

Bryan added, “He sometimes challenges you to do some reflecting by looking in the mirror and taking responsibility.”