It must suck to be a former child star. Anytime the word “former” is applied to your general description when you’re only in your twenties, it’s probably a bad thing. “Former” star kind of implies that you were formerly awesome and now are much less so. “Former” drug addict implies that you used to have some really huge issues and now you’re probably better off – but it doesn’t imply success. So it seems like whether “former” is applied to something good or something bad, it still equals at least a bit of a stigma.
Hence the battle former child stars are always up against. The few that do well are notable. The lucky ones seem to fade into obscurity, though you can still imagine them refusing to wash the dishes or take out the trash because they just can’t handle ordinary stuff. But the least fortunate seem to battle serious addictions, money and family problems, and/or enjoy a few run-ins with the police.
And that is where our story leads us. Former Home Improvement actor Zachery Ty Bryan, 26, got into some sort of serious altercation at a hotel in April. Serious enough that he wound up getting tasered by one of the hotel’s managers – and now Bryan is suing them.
Zachery Ty Bryan, who played Brad Taylor on “Home Improvement” — is suing Choice Hotels International over an incident back in April 2008. Zach claims he was staying at a hotel in San Diego when he and a few friends went across the street to grab a Gatorade. When he came back just after midnight, Bryan’s lawyer claims the hotel wouldn’t let him upstairs, since the room wasn’t in his name.
Then things went really bad …
Bryan’s lawyer claims Zach tried explaining his wife was in the room, but the hotel refused to call her. He claims an off-duty manager, who was not involved in the initial argument, came out of nowhere and tasered Zach in the neck. Cops came but no charges were filed.
A hotel employee tells us Zach went nuts on the staff, a lot of alcohol was involved, and tasering the dude was the only safe bet.
Zach is suing for damages in excess of $25,000. A lawyer for the hotel had no comment.
[From TMZ]
This is one of those stories that you read and think “there is some serious stuff missing from this account.” Unless the hotel’s manager is a well-known lunatic, it seems rather unbelievable that he would just come up out of nowhere and taser a man – for what is implied to be no reason. And it seems equally odd that the hotel wouldn’t let him back in because his name wasn’t on the room. Either everyone at that hotel is batshit crazy, or one guy was really drunk. Hmmm…
Bryan isn’t the only Home Improvement child star to have some serious problems as a grownup. Taran Noah Smith, who played the youngest brother on the show, had some pretty public embarrassment when his trashed home was put on the market. TMZ got a hold of a video of the home, which the Realtor noted in the home’s listing notes was “Absolutely the worst house in a prime location.” It was trashed beyond recognition, in a manner that reeked of the results of drug use.
Stories like these make you glad you’re just a regular person.
Here is Zachery Ty Bryan and his wife Carly Matros at the ” Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift” premiere in Los Angeles on 6/4/06. Photographer : Nikki Nelson; Images thanks to WENN.
I’d taser him just for wearing that awful hat. And spelling “Zachery” like that.
I love his smile for the camera,,,looks like he’s sucking some gunk out of a rotten tooth. Question,,,is anyone allowed to use a taser in Cali? Here in Florida, I believe, only the cops can use them. However we do have the right to shoot you if we feel threatened by someone, or fear for our lives, if we are in a place that we have the legal right to be in. Thank George W’s stupid little brother for that law.
Taran Noah Smith also married a woman who was 16 years older than him – when he was 17.
They should taser every man in that “Home Improvement” cast while they’re at it.
kEVIN – i’VE KNOWN A LOT of people with tazers here, we even had one laying around the office of a show I worked on. No one tried to hide it and I think it even ended up in the show.
That being said… even if ZTB was out of control and acting up, and it sounds like he was, the hotel manager had no right to take matters into his own hands. Police are here for a reason. Acting like law enforcement is just asking for trouble. As such, I think ZTB does deserve a little money, although I hate frivolous lawsuits.
Why did all three of the Home Improvement boys have three names?
GAWD I had the hots for ZTB & JTT when I was 13! Whew!
Anyhoo, there is something fishy about his story, but I’m willing to bet the hotel staff still over-reacted
I love how he “just went across the street to grab a Gatorade” and came back past midnight, drunk out of his skull.
Whatever went down there, the manager probably didn’t see any other way to calm ZTB down.
Elisha: I find your comment on taking the law into your own hands interesting. I’m not sure how it is in America (but I’ve read somewhere it’s similar), but in Germany and Switzerland, if you find yourself in the situation of catching somebody doing a crime (whether it be rampaging, stealing, etc), you have the right to arrest them. It’s a formal arrest that counts as such in the eyes of the law. You can arrest and secure (with whatever you have on hand, cuffs, rope, etc) the person but then the law dictates you immediately have to call the police. That is of course reserved for accute cases in which the police can’t be called on time.
Maybe it was a situation like that? If ZTB really went nuts and attacked staff or threw furniture around, he was committing a crime. And seeing as American cops seem to use tazers a lot, maybe this was legitimate being used by somebody from the hotel?
so can anyone buy a taser? i thought you had to get a permit, like for a gun. in any case this story seems to be lacking something…why would he get tasered just for being drunk?
da-hamn puberty kicked his butt- hard !!
It’s because he looks like a total douchebag. It should be put into law that all douchebags get tasered ON SIGHT!!!
who goes out in the middle of the night for”gatorade”? he could of ordererd room service…or his wife was cheating on him and told the hotel people no to let him in …ya never know in cali!
Many childs have serious problems growing up, and they solve them variosly. Every family have some own things, and each of them try to improve lifestyle, and that’s why he is popular and he could weare his hat as he want, that’s no matter.
Definitely worth the read
Hotels don’t usually bar anyone from entering, he must have been pretty messed up for the staff to react like that.