As it turns out, Thomas left Home Improvement because he was tired of being a teen heartthrob. Fans of his from the '90s might be wondering why they never heard much from him after the start of the new millennium, and that's because the actor walked away from superstardom to focus on himself.
In a 2013 interview with People,he explained why he stepped away from the spotlight. "I'd been going nonstop since I was 8 years old," he said. "I wanted to go to school, to travel and have a bit of a break."
Anyone who had paid close attention to his career could have seen this decision coming. Even at a young age, the actor had a levelheaded view of the illusory nature of fame. "The industry is neurotic and weird, and so when I go home and I play basketball with my friends, I'm not Jonathan Taylor Thomas. I'm just Jonathan," he told Premiere Magazine when he was 14 years old.
He went on to say of his ambitions in life, "Every job has an end. I think [a lot of child actors] weren't prepared for the end... So that's why I focus on school, I play sports, I learn the technical side of [filmmaking]. Because sometime it'll change, and I'll have my education to fall back on."
That end apparently came when he was 18. While the final season of Home Improvement ground on without him, Thomas was touring colleges. But even though he'd been telegraphing his departure from the industry from a young age, that doesn't mean his fellow Home Improvement stars were supportive of his decision.
