Home improvement star Zachery Ty Bryan says his arrest for domestic violence in Oregon has been a “wake-up call” as he tries to rebuild his life.
The former child star, now 41, claimed in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that the physical altercation began in October 2020 because his then-girlfriend Johnnie Faye Cartwright was upset that he was “leading a double life” and still married — though he had announced his divorce two weeks earlier.
He later pleaded guilty to two counts of threats and fourth-degree assault and was sentenced to a three-year suspended sentence, participation in a violent intervention program, and orders to have no further contact with the victim.
Bryan says he’s trying to stay away from alcohol now, but he and Cartwright are still together and are now raising three children of their own.
Meanwhile, the star faces further investigation for allegedly stealing his friends’ and investors’ money in a fraudulent scheme.
Zachery Ty Bryan, 41, was arrested in Oregon in October 2020 for domestic violence. He was accused of strangling his girlfriend at the time
Bryan had announced just two weeks earlier that he was divorcing his longtime wife, Carly Matros. The two are pictured together in 2016
Bryan rose to national fame in the 1990s as the eldest child on the series Home Improvement, which also starred Tim Allen and future teenage heartthrob Jonathan Taylor Thomas.
After the series ended in 1999, Bryan turned to film roles, earning guest spots on television shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
He then went on to executive produce independent films and married his high school sweetheart, Carly Matros, in 2007.
They had four children, who they raised together in a multi-million dollar home in Newport Beach. The youngest, a son, was born in March 2019 and was joined by three daughters – including a set of twins.
In recent years, Bryan has made a name for himself as a conservative commentator on platforms such as FOX News and The Daily Wire.
But in September 2020, Bryan announced that he and Matros were getting a divorce — almost verbatim plagiarizing Arnie Hammer’s divorce announcement.
Now he admits to The Hollywood Reporter, “I was just in party mode — making movies, traveling, drinking.” I didn’t live the way I was raised, you know what I mean?
“I wasn’t a faithful husband and I wasn’t my best,” he continued. “I figured I could go out there 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.”
Just 16 days after the announcement, in October, Bryan was arrested in Oregon and charged with strangulation, fourth-degree assault, coercion, threats, harassment and obstructing the preparation of a police report.
The most serious charges, including the crime of strangulation, were later dropped and he pleaded guilty to two counts.
Bryan was subsequently sentenced to three years probation, participation in a violent intervention program and orders to have no contact with the victim.
He was also banned by the court from “buying, possessing or consuming alcoholic beverages” or from being in places where alcohol is sold or served as its primary purpose.
It was his second arrest of 2020 after being charged with drunk driving in Orange County in May. He also pleaded guilty to that count and was sentenced to five years probation and 18 months in a multi-offender alcohol program, pending further arrests for drink driving in 2004, 2007 and 2017.
Bryan rose to national fame in the 1990s as the eldest child on the series Home Improvement, which also starred Tim Allen and future teenage heartthrob Jonathan Taylor Thomas
After the series ended in 1999, Bryan turned to film roles and received guest appearances on television shows. He is pictured here at Home Improvement with Tim Allen
In recent years he has become a conservative commentator on FOX News and The Daily Wire
According to Oregon police files obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, Cartwright claimed that Bryan, with whom she had been “sexually intimate” for two years, woke her up the night of the alleged assault and demanded to know what happened to his Mobile phone charging cables.
She claimed he “pulled her hair” and slapped her across the face multiple times.
The two then fell onto a flight of stairs, after which Bryan “grabbed Cartwright by the neck with both hands and choked her for about 45 seconds,” according to the police report.
Responding officers said they saw multiple injuries at Cartwright, who claimed Bryan had become abusive a month earlier.
But Bryan claimed Cartwright woke him up and bit him on the groin.
He claimed she self-inflicted her injuries to set him up because she “wanted to ruin his career” after he said he wanted to break up and stop paying her rent.
“I heard her tell dispatchers, ‘That’s the guy from Home Improvement. He’s the famous guy,” Bryan reportedly told officers at the scene.
In retrospect, he says the arrest was “so disproportionately hyped” by the media and claims it wasn’t as physical violence as the police report says.
He explained that he and Cartwright started dating while he was still married and that there were times when she got upset about his “double life.”
And despite announcing his divorce, Bryan claimed the argument escalated that night because they both “drank too much.”
“We weren’t even really physically examined,” he said. “We got really loud. We screamed and because we were in a townhouse that had done it [thin walls]everyone could hear it.’
He went on to tell Cartwright, “I was really upset about my situation at the time.”
And he claimed, “At the end of the day [the police] accuses you of a lot of charges because they ultimately want you to plead something,” noting that police called him “Country Club Zach” and seemed to mock his fame.
“I could have fought that … but that’s more stress and drama,” Bryan explained. “I got two offenses and broke up.”
But he said he thanked God for his arrest now, describing it as a “wake-up call”.
“I went through a situation that I think a lot of people around the world are going through with their partners, and that was a learning experience,” Bryan said.
He admitted he was “definitely”. [has] “a problem with drinking” but doesn’t think the term “alcoholic” applies to him.
“Dude, I started drinking when I was 14,” he said. “Back then I used to go to nightclubs and they just let me in because I was the Home Improvement boy.”
Now, he says, he’s trying to stay away from alcohol, explaining, “I don’t go out and set myself on fire, and that takes away a lot of my problems.”
Bryan continues to face criticism for his role as a token seller for an agritech company that never materialized
He and Cartwright are still together.
In November 2021, just a year after his arrest, Bryan announced that he and Cartwright were engaged.
Based on the timeline of his now-private Instagram account, The Hollywood Reporter found out that Cartwright was already pregnant with a girl at the time.
He announced the birth in spring 2022 on the social media platform.
In November of that year, Bryan also announced that he and Cartwright were expecting twins and that she gave birth to a child in May.
But the actor/producer continues to face criticism from some who consider him one of their closest friends.
In 2018, they explain, Bryan partnered with Producers Market, an ag-tech startup focused on farmers and the global food chain.
The company aimed to empower farmers by eliminating the middleman and investing profits more directly into their tokens using a QR code that allowed them to tip farmers.
It explored the use of tokens to fund growth and brought in Bryan — who had made millions in Bitcoin’s early days — as an advisor to help build relationships within the crypto community.
He then invested the money in the company and urged others to do the same.
However, plans for a token scheme never materialized and in 2019 the company officially decided to end Bryan’s role as an advisor.
Just a year later, executives learned that Bryan was selling the nonexistent tokens to other investors.
‘Mister. “Bryan has misrepresented our company without our knowledge, involvement or permission,” a spokesman said. “When we found out about this, we immediately issued a cease and desist order to him.
“This activity is unacceptable and does not reflect our mission to support the well-being of farmers and our food systems.”
But Bryan denies he “made a shady scam deal — that’s just not me.”
“What people don’t understand is that you take risks, nothing is certain,” he said, promising that if the company ever goes public, he will personally distribute his Producers Market shares to those who do still waiting for their money.