Who is Tim Allen's wife Jane Hajduk? 'Last Man Standing' actor fought alcoholism to find love again with costar
During the 2018 Television Critics Association press tour, comedy maestro Tim Allen had gushed about his character Mike Baxter's dynamics with on-screen wife Nancy Travis' Vanessa saying, "I always thought they should be an affectionate couple. They are not always at odds." Cue the awws, but for Allen, who's also a producer on the show, the sentiment wasn't hard to emulate. From Home Improvement’s Tim 'The Tool Man' Taylor to Mike Baxter, Allen sashayed at playing the lovable family man for years; but not many might now, this comes from his fairytale marriage to actor and second wife Jane Hajduk, whom he found after what he has proclaimed to be much needed personal growth following his failed marriage to Laura Deibel.
Hajduk and Allen have been co-stars for as long as they have been romantic partners. She starred alongside her husband in several of Allen's films, such as 2001's 'Joe Somebody', the 2006 superhero comedy 'Zoom' and the family film 'The Shaggy Dog', which also released the same year. Speaking of 2006, that's also when Allen and Hajdk tied the knot after being in a strong five-year relationship. The October 7 ceremony was an extremely intimate affair with the only guests reportedly being the couple's family, including Allen's then-teenage daughter Kathrine, whom he shares with Deibel. Three years later, Hajduk and Allen welcomed their first child together, the now 11-year-old Elizabeth.
Although Allen has tried to be the best husband to Hajduk, and a father to his daughters in the recent past, that was not always the case as the actor has admitted about his first marriage. College sweethearts Allen and Deibel married in 1984 and went on to be together for 15 years. They legally separated in 1999, with their divorce being finalized four years later. Opening up to The Detroit News at the time, the actor had admitted that focus on his carer had made him “let (his) family slide”.
Allen and Hajduk began dating following his separation with Deibel, but it wasn't before he really worked on himself that they took the relationship forward. It began with Allen entering rehab for alcohol abuse in 1998 and it involved a lot of change in himself between who he was in his first marriage, and who he became during the second one. "I’m not the same guy I was the first time (I was married), when I was hiding and doing what people who drink too much do. I was not connecting," Allen had told Closer in 2017, adding: “But I’ve been sober for almost 20 years. I’m much more present.”
In 2011, when Allen spoke to Parade, he also admitted, "I was gone so much in my first marriage, I love the moments when I engage with my youngest daughter now. It’s not my thing to sit on the ground and play tea party, but I’ll do it because it’s a moment that will stick with me forever.” And attesting his lovable father-figure persona on-screen, Allen's TV wife from 'Home Improvement', Patricia Richardson, told the outlet: “Tim gets to fully be the loving father and husband he is, which is so genuine in him. It’s what makes him so lovable."
'Last Man Standing' Season 9 premieres on Sunday, January 4, at 9.30 pm/ET only on FOX. The show will air its final season thereon starting with the second episode on Thursdays, at 9.30 pm on the same network.
