The former child star is opening up about his substance abuse issues.
Zachery Ty Bryan is opening up about his downfall. A new exposé in The Hollywood Reporter centers around how Bryan went from being a popular child star on Home Improvement to a Bitcoin millionaire to an alleged fraudster with multiple DUIs and arrests. Bryan himself spoke out in the story, addressing many of the allegations against him.
Bryan calls his time on Home Improvement -- which he starred on as Brad Taylor, the eldest son of Tim Allen and Patricia Richardson's characters, Tim and Jill -- "some of the best days of my life."
However, he acknowledges that he wasn't exactly on the straight and narrow at the time, saying, "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."
Even so, when Home Improvement ended in 1999, Bryan went on to have a successful acting career, starring in films including The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and appearing in guest roles on popular TV shows such as ER and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Eventually, Bryan, who, at one point, served as a columnist for The Daily Wire and a commentator on Fox News, transitioned to a career behind the camera as a producer, working on such films as The Kindergarten Teacher and Skin. Bryan was able to fund his producing dream thanks to a multimillion-dollar windfall that he earned as an early investor in Bitcoin.
Bryan's crypto success attracted the attention of Producers Market, an ag-tech startup focused on farmers and the global food chain. The company brought him on as an advisor and founding investment partner.
Bryan soon started singing the company's praises to his friends and family, and began selling them crypto tokens privately, promising them big returns later on.
Travis Aaron Wade, an actor who's Bryan's friend, claims that his pal would name drop people like Tom Brady and Luke Bryan as a way to impress potential investors, and even said that Bryan claimed to be a cousin of the country star, presumably because of their shared last name.
"He would be dating someone, a random girl that he met on Bumble or Tinder," Wade alleges of Bryan, "and he would save their name as someone famous so that when his phone would ring, it would pop up as Angelina Jolie or whatever."
"The guy has two sides. His dark is dark, but his light is really light. It's sad because you really do fall in love with him," Wade adds. "He's a great guy. But I see it as my responsibility to not let other people get taken advantage of."
Per THR, Bryan did not respond to Wade's claims.
Investors eventually grew restless, especially when Bryan disappeared from the company's website. Four sources claim to the outlet that Bryan stole nearly $50,000 by selling tokens, since Producers Market says they decided not to issue tokens in 2019. Bryan, however, allegedly continued selling tokens after that decision was made, something Producers Market says they didn't learn until 2021, the year after they ended Bryan's advisor role.
"Mr. Bryan misrepresented our company without our knowledge, participation or permission. When we found out, we immediately issued a cease-and-desist demand to him," Producers Market spokesperson John Collins tells the outlet. "This activity is unacceptable and not a reflection of our mission to support the well-being of farmers and our food systems."
Bryan, however, says the situation "was not me running some shady scam deal or something," adding, "that's just not me." He says the situation went awry because the company opted out of selling tokens.
"What people don’t understand is that you take risks. Nothing is for sure. It's the same with movie investments and everything else, you lose or you win," he says, adding that, if the company does end up going public, he will personally distribute his Producers Market stock to those who are still waiting on their money.
As for why Producers Market ended Bryan's advisor role before discovering his token sales, that dates back to his 2020 arrests. In May of that year, Bryan was booked for a DUI. He pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to five years of probation and 18 months of a multiple-offender alcohol program, due to his past DUI arrests in 2004, 2007 and 2017, the outlet reports, citing court documents.
Then, in September 2020, Bryan plagiarized Armie Hammer's divorce announcement when he revealed that he and his wife, Carly, with whom he shares four children, were separating. Bryan says he copied the actor's post "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 says Carly is "an incredible human being, an incredible mother," and is open about why she decided to end their marriage.
"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," he says. "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."
Less than a month after the divorce announcement, Bryan was arrested in Oregon and charged with felony strangulation, fourth-degree assault, coercion, menacing, harassment, and interference with making a police report following an incident with Johnnie Faye Cartwright.
In the police report, which THR obtained, Bryan and Cartwright provide conflicting accounts of the incident, during which they both displayed signs of intoxication. For her part, Cartwright, who alleges Bryan was abusive in the month leading up to the incident, claims in the report that Bryan woke her up to find out what happened to his cell phone charger, "pulled her hair," punched her in the face, and "choked her" for approximately 45 seconds.
Meanwhile, Bryan tells the outlet that the arrest "got so blown out of proportion." He claims that Cartwright, whom he began seeing when he was married, was upset over his "double life" and things escalated because they'd both "been drinking too much."
"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 says. "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."
Bryan ended up pleading guilty to misdemeanor menacing and fourth-degree assault and was sentenced to three years of probation and attendance in a violence-intervention. He was additionally ordered to have no contact with Cartwright and to not "buy, possess or consume alcoholic beverages" or be in any place that sells or serves alcohol as a principal purpose.
"I could've fought it… but that’s more stress and drama. I got two misdemeanors and called it a day," Bryan says, before explaining why he "thanks God" for the experience.
"I went through a situation that I'm sure plenty of people across the globe experience with their partners, and that was a learning experience," he says.
Bryan, who says he doesn't consider himself an alcoholic, admits that he does "definitely have an issue with drinking" and says he tries "to stay away from it" now.
"I've just kind of disengaged," he says. "I've got my routine, I'm not going out and getting lit, and that takes away a lot of problems."
In November 2021, Bryan revealed he and Cartwright, who was pregnant at the time, were engaged. She gave birth to a girl in 2022, and the pair welcomed twins in May 2023. Bryan is now a dad of seven. As for where their relationship stands today, Bryan says he and Cartwright are "good friends, we're partners." Cartwright declined to comment for the story.
Legal woes continue for Bryan, as he's facing an investor lawsuit for breach of contract and unjust enrichment after he failed to return Cameron Moore's $60,000 investment in the film Warning.
When Bryan opted not to respond to the suit, the court issued a default ruling, finding him liable for damages and costs, with the judge awarding Moore more than $100,000. Bryan tells the outlet he's "in the process" of complying with the judgment and calls Moore, the man who sued him, "one of a kind."
Given the drama surrounding Bryan's life, Allen, his one-time TV dad, admits, "I don’t know what's going on with him."
"Zach is a great kid who has grown into a complex man. All you can do is step aside and let somebody go through their process. At a certain point, he deviated from the guy I know to somebody who is reacting to situations that I had nothing to do with and can’t control," Allen says. "I don't know what happens when people get corrupted. You just don’t know. I know Zach's heart. He’s got to figure out his own way."
Likewise, Bryan's sister, Ciri Bryan, reflects, "He threw everything that he worked so hard for and just torched it in all aspects of his life. I feel like he 100 percent knows the difference between right and wrong but, with addiction, that goes out the window. He got in way over his head, and it’s going to be really hard for him to admit that, but if he's able to jump over that hoop, then he can do the hard work [of] paying back the money he took from people and regaining trust."
As for Bryan, he's taking things one day at a time.
"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. He sometimes challenges you to do some reflecting by looking in the mirror and taking responsibility," he says. "... Every day is a new day and there are stresses and triggers, but I'm learning coping skills. I wake up, go on a nice walk, come back and kick it with the kids. I try to enjoy the little moments rather than try to dream for the big moments. It's an interesting journey as long as we can stay sober. Then things are going to be good."
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