Tim Allen Didn't 'Want' to Become a Father Before He Welcomed 2 Daughters: 'I’ve Never Been a Fan of Children'

Fatherhood wasn’t in the game plan for Tim Allen.

Despite being thought of as a generation’s dad for children who watched him playing Tim “The Toolman” Taylor on family sitcom Home Improvement, Allen didn’t think it was for him.

“I never really wanted to be a dad,” the Shifting Gears star, 72, told Us Weekly in an interview published Wednesday, June 10. “I joke about it on stage; I’ve just never been a real fan of children.”

He continued, “As people have said many times about parenting, you go through all this [stuff] to get a driver’s license or a passport, but there’s nothing about [raising] children. It was a work in progress.”

Allen has two daughters: Katherine, 36, whose mother is Laura Diebel, whom he was married to from 1984 to 2003, and Elizabeth, 17, whose mom is Jane Hajduk, whom Allen wed in 2006.

“My wife says we wish we’d had five kids because you learn on the first two,” he told the outlet. “With Kate, I was gone a lot, so her mom did most of the raising.”

Allen’s upbringing shaped his fatherhood experience.

“I come from [a family of] seven boys and two girls, and it’s a very different world to me with girls,” he said. “I have a different view of what will make a strong woman.”

He added, “The girl stuff I have little interest in — clothing, looks, gossip, and all that — [I focused on] learning finances, learning how to take care of yourself, and that works for boys and girls.”

He has formed a strong bond with his daughters.

“My sisters are well-rounded because they were around a very strong mom, and these girls are around strong moms,” he said. “There’s a connection between moms and sons that’s undeniable, and there’s a connection between fathers and daughters that’s undeniable. We communicate on a different level.”

The star admitted he's pleased with the way Katherine and Elizabeth turned out.

“I didn’t realize how much I got through to my older one [but] now and then she’ll say, ‘You used to say this all the time,’ and I go, ‘You actually listened,’” he shared. “Both daughters are very creative and self-assured, [more] than I was. They have natural abilities I never had, and they’re very modest about it.”

Nowadays, he stays close to both girls.

“I adore my older daughter’s husband and they don’t live far away, and I see her all the time when we’re shooting Shifting Gears because she’s in the production office,” he explained. “Sometimes I’m in a crotchety mood when I’ve been working eight hours and I don’t want to deal with minutiae and she goes, ‘Just call me,’ because she’s very good at that. She’ll stare me down [sometimes]. I tell her, ‘You’re the only one that ever talks to me like that.’”

He continued, “My youngest and I love watching Avengers movies — I learned this from an old friend — make a movie night with your kid, along with a date night for your wife. Our joke is I’ll say, ‘I love you more than anything,’ and she goes, ‘Well, I love you more.’ It seems like the silliest thing, but we just did it about 25 minutes ago.”

One difference the girls experienced with their upbringing is that The Santa Clause star was drinking heavily when his eldest daughter was young.

“I was not sober for some of [Kate’s] formative years,” he explained. “I made amends to her. With the younger one, I see how much different it is when I’ve been sober almost 30 years. She never knew any of that guy. I’ve thought about it many times, and I’ve talked to Kate, and she doesn’t hold it against me.”

Cutting alcohol didn’t make a huge difference in his life beyond family.

“I’m still the same lunatic,” Allen quipped. “I have a group of guys, we’ve been meeting for over 20 years; it’s all about honesty.”