Home Improvement star Tim Allen is opening up about his humble beginnings and why he is so grateful for his life today in the new issue of Closer Weekly.

Tim tells Closer he has learned from the mistakes he made earlier in his life; he was arrested for drug trafficking in 1978 and spent two years and four months in a federal prison. “It was a watershed moment,” says the comic. “It put me in a position of great humility, and I was able to make amends to friends and family and refocus my life on setting and achieving goals.”

In 1984, he married Laura Deibel, and daughter Katherine was born five years later. The couple separated in 1999, and Tim wed Jane Hajduk in 2006, three years before his second daughter Elizabeth came along.

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Tim and Jane in February 2017.

“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,” Tim tells Closer. “But I’ve been sober for almost 20 years. I’m much more present.”

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Tim jokes daughters Katherine, 28, and Elizabeth, 8, still don’t think he is very funny. “The older one will roll her eyes, and the younger one just stares at me — I think she’s done with me,” Tim tells Closer. “But I still try to play jokes and make them laugh.”

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Tim with Jane and his oder daughter, Katherine, in 2010.

Now Tim shares his affection with both his real and TV families. His Last Man Standing character “has three daughters, so his whole vision is through his treasure, his girls,” he tells Closer. Adds Home Improvement wife Patricia Richardson, “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.”

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And thankful. “I’m 68 percent joyous, aiming for 70 percent,” he quips. “I’m also extremely grateful for where I am today.”

For more from Tim, pick up the new issue of Closer Weekly, on stands now!

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