'Home Improvement' star living 'double life' claims his strangulation arrest was 'blown out of proportion'
While leading a "double life," Zachery Ty Bryan was arrested in 2020 for felony strangulation after a fight with his girlfriend, Johnnie Faye Cartwright. Now the "Home Improvement" actor claims the whole thing was "blown out of proportion."
"We didn't even really get that physical. We got really loud. We were screaming and because we were in a townhome that had [thin walls], everybody could hear," he told The Hollywood Reporter in a wide-ranging story. "Johnnie was, at the time, just really upset about my situation. At the end of the day, [the police] throw a bunch of counts at you because they ultimately want you to plead to something."
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Ultimately, the child star pleaded plead guilty to menacing and fourth-degree assault.
"I could've fought it … but that's more stress and drama. I got two misdemeanors and called it a day," he said, even calling it a "learning experience."
"I thank God for that. I went through a situation that I'm sure plenty of people across the globe experience with their partners," he continued.
Lane County Sheriff's Office
At the time of the incident, Zachery was married to Carly Matros, but he and Johnnie had also been involved in a two-year sexual relationship. Johnnie, Zach says, was frustrated over his "double life." Then, in September 2020, Zach announced that he and Carly were divorcing — his announcement was nearly a word-for-word ripoff of Armie Hammer and Elizabeth Chambers' divorce post (he admits to copying it).
"I was just in party freaking mode," he says of that time in his life when he and Carly called it quits. "Making movies, traveling, drinking. I wasn't living the way I was raised, you know what I mean? I was not being a faithful husband, and I was not being the best me. I thought I would be able to go out and do whatever I wanted, have fun, come home and be a family man with my kids. That's not how the real world works."
Despite the incident with Johnnie, she stayed with Zachery, and the duo now share three children. Zach has seven children in total.
ABC
Zach also spoke briefly about his four DUI arrests, alcohol struggles and his alleged cryptocurrency scam, which saw many people losing thousands of dollars.
"This was not me running some shady scam deal or something — that's just not me," he said of his former involvement with a crypto company. While acknowledging that people lost money, he blamed the company for changing its "business model."
"What people don't understand is that you take risks. Nothing is for sure. It's the same with movie investments and everything else, you lose or you win," he said.
Source: Wonderwall
