Home Improvement child star unrecognisable working for Elon Musk after age-gap marriage

A whole generation grew up adoring gut-busting 1991 sitcom Home Improvement, which followed the loveable Taylor family’s lives.

It may feel like yesterday, but it’s more than two decades since the show’s final episode hit screens.

While much of the attention when on leading man Tim Allen, the show’s youngest cast member, Taran Noah Smith has had quite the life.

If you can believe it, the child star who played adorable son Mark turns 39 years old on Saturday (April 8).

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The young actor made a stark career change after the sitcom and now works for none other than tech tycoon Elon Musk.

It’s not at Tesla or Twitter where Taran started his new career – but he reached new heights after joining spacecraft manufacturer SpaceX last year.

But life wasn’t always easy for the child actor who lived a tumultuous life – from breaking up with his cougar wife to a feud with his family.

Seven-year-old star

Aged just seven, Taran joined the cast of Home Improvement after his mum, Candy Bennici, signed a seven-year contract.

She admitted in an interview with HNGN that she was “incredibly naïve” and didn’t know how showbusiness worked.

He became one of the longest-serving characters, acting in all eight seasons and 203 episodes of the show.

But by age 16 when the series ended in 1999, the then-teenage star decided to jump out of the spotlight for good.

After years of gruelling hours, Taran felt burned out and decided to pursue a career of his own choosing.

Mum Candy admitted in her 2015 memoir, Stardom Happens, that she feels accountable for her son’s rise and fall.

She revealed that she “had no idea what that contract meant”, and felt blame for her son’s tumultuous career – including dating much older women underage.

‘My wife’s a cougar’

After Home Improvement ended, Taran steered clear of the headlines until 2001 when he announced his marriage at the age of just 17.

Even more shocking was that his wife, Heidi Van Pelt, was 33 years old when the pair decided to tie the knot.

The couple met when Taran was underaged at just 14 years old, and Heidi was aged 30.

Despite Heidi being more than double his age, the pair fell in love and spent seven years together before the cougar filed for divorce.

While many young men in their twenties party and drink too much, Heidi expected more from Taran and called the relationship quits.

Feuding family

If it wasn’t enough for a child to attain fame across the world, Taran had a difficult relationship with his parents.

Their ugly spat attracted the world’s attention, despite mum Candy denying allegations that she blew his fortune.

Candy blamed the media’s intervention for the “teenage angst-driven strife” between the pair and said that Taran’s $1.5m (£1.2m) fortune had been funnelled into a trust fund for him to get his paws on after he turned 18.

Not only were there arguments about finances, but also Candy being overbearing as a mother.

She explained that it was because an FBI agent told her Taran was at risk.

She claims to have been told: “The three boys from ‘Home Improvement’ are the top target of paedophiles in the world. You can’t just leave him alone.”

Candy added: “With our own situation, we learned from our mistakes. We were so unaware of the concept of predators out there.”

After years of bitterness and wasted time, Taran and his mum are reportedly “happily reunited” after his divorce from Heidi.

Space expectations

Taran claimed that he’s the “only cast member” of Home Improvement that’s left showbusiness behind.

Now he is happily carving his own path, and the childhood star said that engineering has always been his true passion.

Taran said “engineering is in [his] blood” and is working at SpaceX for brash billionaire and world’s richest man, Elon Musk.

He joined the spacecraft manufacturer as an Integration Technician in July 2022.

Taran said: “I was lucky enough to have a successful career as a child actor, but stopped acting once I became an adult and followed my true passion, which is to use my head, my hands, and my tools to find novel solutions to humanity’s challenges, and to create ever more effective ways to bring them into reality.”

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk