Patricia Richardson endeared herself to the American audience by portraying Jill Taylor, Tim Allen’s on-screen wife, on the sitcom series Home Improvement. This role earned her five Emmy Awards nominations for her exceptional performance.
Richardson left Home Improvement at the end of the eighth season, eventually leading to the series’s cancellation. In an interview with Closer Weekly, she revealed that she left the show to focus on her family. “The reason I turned down the ninth year of Home Improvement was because I was a single parent and away from my kids too much,” she told the news outlet. “I left the show, and I have put my children first since then.”
Patricia Richardson reunited with Tim Allen after they lost touch with each other
After their time on Home Improvement, Richardson lost touch with Allen as she withdrew from the spotlight to raise her children. However, the actress reunited with the 70-year-old when she appeared on his ABC/Fox sitcom, Last Man Standing, which aired from 2011 to 2021.
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In an interview, Richardson playfully mentioned that the experience might have been awkward for Allen. “When I went to do the show, he would think it was so weird,” she reminisced. “He’d do a bedroom scene with Nancy [Travis], then I was on the set and his real wife would be out in the audience. He was so confused!”
Patricia Richardson still keeps in close contact with her ‘Home Improvement’ children
In a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA), Richardson talked about staying connected with Zachery Ty Bryan and Jonathan Taylor Thomas, her “kids” from Home Improvement. “I do stay in touch with Zach and Jonathan, who, in fact, have written a really wonderful pilot that is sort of R-rated and are shopping it around town,” she said. “Jonathan also directs Last Man Standing, and I got to see him there.”
She also revealed that Jonathan Taylor Thomas works with her as a member of the national board of SAG-AFTRA. “He’s been on the national board with me now, and everybody, even the other side, is impressed with Jonathan. He is awesome. But when I first called him, I said, ‘OK, here’s the plan: you’re gonna run for the national board and then you’re gonna be really big on the national board,” Richardson detailed. “And then you’re gonna be president of SAG-AFTRA, and then you’re gonna be governor of California and then you’re gonna be president of the country. So I’ve got your whole life planned out for you.'”