Tim Allen’s Controversial Moments Through the Years: Prison Stint, Misconduct Allegations and More

While Tim Allen has played family-friendly characters onscreen, he’s also dealt with his fair share of controversy.

Before he became a comedian and an actor, Allen struggled with alcohol and drug addiction after having his first taste as a kid.

“After my old man died [when I was 11], I really just played games with people and told adults what they wanted to hear and then stole their booze,” the Santa Clauses star said on a March 2021 episode of the “WTF With Marc Maron” podcast. “Really, I was Eddie Haskell [from Leave It to Beaver]. ‘Yes, Mrs. Cleaver. No, Mrs. Cleaver.’ I knew exactly what adults wanted — make your bed, be polite, use a napkin — and then I’d go steal everything in the house.”

When he was 25, Allen was arrested in Michigan on drug trafficking charges. The actor pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to two years in federal prison. Following his release in the 1980s, Allen moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in Hollywood and decided to get sober.

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“I’ve been drugs and alcohol-free for about 22 years,” he said on The Kelly Clarkson Show in March 2020. “Because I had money and I was a star, people help, they enable you to get by. The program I practice, it’s all about as soon as you get it, you gotta give it away. It doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a day-to-day thing. You gotta reprise every day.”

Keep scrolling for more on Allen’s most controversial moments through the years:

Life Behind Bars

“We were a bunch of college kids — a bunch of the people who overdid it,” Allen told podcast host Marc Maron in 2021 of getting arrested for possession of cocaine. “Two of us took [the punishment] for about 20 guys.”

Allen was transferred to three different prisons following his arrest. “I learned, literally, how to live day by day and I learned how to shut up,” he said of his experience. “I did what I was told, played the game. … You don’t want to be sarcastic in prison. Being funny and doing funny voices is funny. Sarcasm doesn’t go over too well. That I learned.”

He added: “There were OK times. Saturday we got better food. Eventually, I went from a holding cell arrangement to my own cell. I called my mom at the time. … I told her how proud I was that I got my own cell.”

Allen was released on parole in 1981.

Dealing With Addiction

The Toy Story voice actor noted on Maron’s podcast that he now feels “so much shame” over his drunk behavior, including driving his friends home when he was intoxicated as a teenager.

Allen was later arrested in Michigan in 1997 for driving under the influence. The actor, who was starring in Home Improvement at the time, pleaded guilty to the charges and voluntarily checked into a rehab facility after receiving a court-ordered counseling sentence.

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Uncensored on the Set

Allen plays Scott Calvin/Santa Claus in the Santa Clause franchise, which has required working with multiple child actors.

“I’m not really a big fan of children. I have them. I like mine, kind of. I don’t like other people’s children,” he said on Kelly Clarkson’s show in January 2021. “It was like cats. They wouldn’t leave me alone. I’m dressed like Santa Claus. I look like Santa Claus. We had a North Pole set.”

At one point, Allen overheard two children fighting during a serious scene. “Fifteen takes later, the kids said one more word and I let out the loudest F-bomb,” he recalled.“And I turned around, and there are 12 children who look like you had ripped their legs off. Their Santa has just screamed the F-bomb.”

Allen said Disney attempted to calm the kids down by asserting that he used a Swedish word instead, but apparently “nobody bought it.”

Sharing Political Affiliations

Allen has long been open about his politically conservative beliefs, but some fans were disappointed in 2021 when he shared what he admired about former President Donald Trump. (Allen attended Trump’s inauguration in January 2017.)

“Once I realized the last president pissed people off, I kinda liked that,” he said on Maron’s podcast before explaining why he’s a fiscal conservative. “Once I started making money, I had this silent partner that just took almost half of my money and never gave me anything for it. That's taxes. I've never liked taxes.”

He added: “I literally don't preach anything. What I've done is I've just not joined into, as I call it, the 'we culture.' I'm not telling anybody else how to live. I don't like that.”

Allen did, however, publicly condemn Trump’s support of the U.S. Capitol attack and insurrection in January 2021.

Hollywood’s Sexual Misconduct Scandals

Pamela Anderson’s Allegations

Anderson worked with Allen on the set of Home Improvement, starring as Lisa the Tool Girl in 23 episodes. During her time on the set, she alleged that Allen exposed himself to her.

“On the first day of filming, I walked out of my dressing room, and Tim was in the hallway in his robe. He opened his robe and flashed me quickly — completely naked underneath,” she wrote in her January 2023 memoir, Love, Pamela. “He said it was only fair because he had seen me naked. ‘Now we’re even.’ I laughed uncomfortably.”

Allen subsequently denied Anderson’s claims in a statement to Us Weekly. “No, it never happened. I would never do such a thing,” he said.

‘Santa Clauses’ Costars Say He Was ‘F–king Rude’

Casey Wilson, who appeared in the Disney+ spinoff The Santa Clauses in 2022, made headlines one year later when she slammed Allen’s on-set behavior.

“Tim Allen was such a bitch,” Wilson said on her “Bitch Sesh” podcast in December 2023. “It was the truly single worst experience I’ve ever had with a costar ever.”

Wilson claimed that Allen was “so f–king rude” on set, never making eye contact or directly speaking to her despite sharing the screen.

“It’s the end [of the scene], and Tim Allen goes, ‘Leaving!’ [He] takes his Santa cape, picks it up and drops it on the floor and walks out,” she added. “And they hustle in his stand-in; lovely man, who was much nicer to act against. People are scurrying to pick up his velvet Santa coat. He’s a bitch.”

Allen did not address Wilson’s allegations at the time. Us reached out for comment.