Tim Allen is getting real about his initial thoughts on fatherhood, the regrets he carries today and how his 30-year sobriety plays a role.
During an interview with US Weekly, Allen opened up about how he “never really wanted” to be a father and how his fatherhood journey has been a “work in progress.”
“I never really wanted to be a dad. I joke about it on stage; I’ve just never been a real fan of children. As people have said many times about parenting, you go through all this [stuff] to get a driver’s license or a passport, but there’s nothing about [raising] children,” he began. “It was a work in progress.”
Allen has two children, both daughters: Katherine Allen and Elizabeth Allen-Dick. Allen shares Katherine with his first wife, Laura Deibel. Allen and his current wife, Jane Hajduk, share Elizabeth.
During the interview, Allen said that Jane wished they had five children “because you learn on the first two.”
“With Kate, I was gone a lot, so her mom did most of the raising. I come from [a family of] seven boys and two girls, and it’s a very different world to me with girls. I have a different view of what will make a strong woman.
“The girl stuff I have little interest in — clothing, looks, gossip, and all that — [I focused on] learning finances, learning how to take care of yourself, and that works for boys and girls,” Allen said.
Throughout the years, Allen shared that he’s seen the depth of a father-daughter bond. “We communicate on a different level. I didn’t realize how much I got through to my older one [but] now and then she’ll say, ‘You used to say this all the time,’ and I go, ‘You actually listened,'” he said.
Allen has been outspoken in the past about his sobriety and during his interview with US Weekly, he explained that he wasn’t sober during some of his oldest daughter’s formative years.
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“I made amends to her. With the younger one, I see how much different it is when I’ve been sober almost 30 years,” he said. “She never knew any of that guy. I’ve thought about it many times, and I’ve talked to Kate, and she doesn’t hold it against me.”
With “Toy Story 5” gearing up for release on June 19, Allen took a trip down memory lane and recalled getting started on the wrong foot during his early years.
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“I’d lost focus after college, where I got into criminal stuff,” he said, referencing the two years he spent in prison.
“When I was incarcerated, I started reading books [about] men and women who had been successful out of nowhere, and I started focusing on where I wanted to be,” the actor continued. “I did not want to do that ever again. I humiliated my family and friends and myself. I did not want to make that mistake [again].”
