Tim Allen is getting candid about his troubled youth and how it led him to prison on drug trafficking charges. The 67-year-old actor revealed details of his past in a new interview for the "WTF with Marc Maron" podcast.
"I was an eff up," Allen admitted, via Fox News.
The "Home Improvement" star was 11 when his father was killed in a car accident. It was a drunk driver who caused the crash. After that, Allen's life took a turn for the worse.
"After my old man died, I really just played games with people and told adults what they wanted to hear and then stole their booze," he recalled.
Allen said he quickly learned how to manipulate adults by pretending to be someone he was not.
"I knew exactly what adults wanted — make your bed, be polite, use a napkin — and then I'd go steal everything in the house," he said.
In 1978, Allen was busted with cocaine at the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport in Michigan. He pled guilty to drug trafficking charges and spent two years and four months at a federal prison in Minnesota.
In a 2017 interview with Closer magazine, Allen said the sentencing was what he needed to turn his life around.
"It was a watershed moment," he said. "It put me in a position of great humility, and I was able to make amends to friends and family and refocus my life on setting and achieving goals."
Speaking during his appearance on "WTF with Marc Maron," Allen said he wanted to emerge from prison with new goals.
"I just shut up and did what I was told," he said. "It was the first time ever I did what I was told and played the game ... I learned literally how to live day by day. And I learned how to shut up. You definitely want to learn how to shut up."
Over 20 years later and Allen is living a sober life and is "grateful" for every moment.
"I love my life. I'm not any more mentally stable, I have the same issues I had," he explained. "Now, I can't hide from them."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
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