It’s been years since former Home Improvement star Jonathan Taylor Thomas was a television staple, but ’90s kids know that a JTT sighting is still a major pop-culture event.
The former teen idol, who famously walked away from showbiz after playing Randy Taylor on the Tim Allen series, was recently spotted in a mini-reunion photo with his former co-stars, giving longtime fans a heartwarming look at the beloved television and film star today.
Patricia Heaton, who played Thomas’ mom on the ABC comedy from 1991 through 1999, posted a snapshot with her “boys” on Instagram. She captioned the image, “My other boys,” followed by a red emoji heart.
The “boys” were Thomas and his television brother, Taran Noah Smith, who played Mark Taylor, the youngest of the trio. The third TV sibling, Zachery Ty Bryan, is currently in jail after being charged with “felony DUI and a misdemeanor for alleged contempt of court,” reported PEOPLE Magazine.
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Thomas, Heaton, and Smith posed casually in the image. The actor looks the same as he did when he graced the walls of teenage girls as a young man.
Fans were stunned by the photo. They shared their remarks in its comments section.
“Love this!!! Home Improvement is my comfort show. I watch it almost daily,” wrote one follower.
A second Instagram user claimed, “I’ll never outgrow my JTT phase, I fear.” A third agreed, adding, “JTT needs to make a comeback.”
Another fan shared the following comment: “Omg. Thank you for sharing this!!! I love seeing Jonathan when we can. I thought I’d marry him when I was 10.” A final fan penned, “Is this super recent because we rarely ever get a current JTT picture in the wild and I am here for it.”
Thomas remains out of the public eye after years as a very public figure, appearing on television in Home Improvement and the feature films Wild America, Man of the House, Tom and Huck, I’ll Be Home for Christmas, The Adventures of Pinocchio, and Walking Across Egypt. In 2015, he reprised his Home Improvement role for a cameo on the Tim Allen series Last Man Standing.
In 2013, the actor spoke to PEOPLE Magazine, revealing that after leaving Hollywood behind he wanted to “go to school” and “travel.” He was a student at both Harvard and Columbia Universities, and St. Andrews University in Scotland, where other famous alums included Prince William and Kate Middleton.
Screen Rant reported that Thomas’ spent his third year of college transitioning from Harvard to St. Andrews. This was around the same time the future Prince and Princess of Wales attended the university. However, the actor has never spoken about whether or not he crossed paths with the royals.
He did tell PEOPLE, “To sit in a big library amongst books and students, that was pretty cool. It was a novel experience for me.”
Thomas said of his time as a teen idol, “I never took the fame too seriously. It was a great period in my life, but it doesn’t define me.”
“When I think back on the time, I look at it with a wink. I focus on the good moments I had, not that I was on a lot of magazine covers.”
Patricia Richardson offered a rare update on the notoriously quiet star during an interview for the Back to the Best podcast. The actress noted that although she and Jonathan Taylor Thomas still keep in contact, the actor has largely put his on-screen days behind him, preferring to concentrate on writing and directing.
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