Tim Allen Reveals That Despite ‘Many Blessings,’ He Still Has A ‘Profound Sense Of Sadness’

Tim Allen is currently enjoying the success of yet another sitcom, as his new ABC show Shifting Gears is a huge hit.

Between that and his reputation as a funny man, it may come as a shock that he recently took to social media to admit to feeling a “profound sense of sadness.”

Allen’s ‘Profound Sense Of Sadness’

So what’s got Tim Allen down these days? Well, he’s not exactly sure.

“So many blessings in my life yet woke up with profound sense of sadness, no explanation just sat and felt sadness,” Allen, 71, wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Surely many of us can relate. Sometimes you just “get down” and there’s no real explanation and nothing much you can do about it.

But then Allen dropped a little bit of wisdom that should make himself, and us, feel better about it:

“To experience sad is necessary to experience happiness one imagines,” he added.

We’re guessing he will be right as rain soon enough, considering he has hit Triple 7 and is now on his third hit sitcom!

Shifting Gears premiered in January, and it has been a massive hit in the ratings. He previously starred on Home Improvement from 1991 until 1999. Allen then starred on Last Man Standing from 2011 until 2021.

Allen’s comments about feeling a “profound sense of sadness” is particularly shocking, given how much he loves the sitcom format. One would think that he’s happier than ever to get the chance to enjoy sitcom success for a third time.

“Somebody I was talking to called me the Tom Brady of TV with those three sitcoms, and I hadn’t thought of that but it got in my head,” Allen told USA Today last month.

Related: Tim Allen’s New Sitcom ‘Shifting Gears’ Is Dominating The Competition In The Ratings

Allen Loves Making Shifting Gears

One of his favorite things about Shifting Gears is getting to shoot the show old-school style in front of a live studio audience.

“Back in the day, this is how it was, you rehearsed it and shot it in front of real people, and I love that,” Allen explained. “In the movies, OK maybe I make the crew bust up, but that’s it. Doing Shifting Gears, I get to aim for the whole audience plus the crew. There’s nothing like it.”

However, Allen went on to hint at a potential sad mindset when he acknowledged that Shifting Gears may be his last show.

“This probably will be the end of it,” Allen admitted. “That sounds depressing, but I did (Shifting Gears) because it seemed like a good idea that would be fun. That’s really it.”

Related: Tim Allen Praised By His ‘Shifting Gears’ Co-Star Kat Dennings – ‘He’s A Very Kind Person’

Allen’s ‘Complicated’ Decision

In another February interview, Allen explained that choosing to do Shifting Gears was a “complicated” decision for him.

“It was a complicated decision. I was doing Disney+’s Santa Claus series at the time and I said, ‘I really can’t think about this now,’” Allen told US Weekly. “Do I want to do linear TV? I was so depressed at how streaming has hurt television. So if I did it, I want to elevate it.”

“I’ve done Mike Baxter [on Last Man Standing] and Tim Taylor [on Home Improvement],” he continued. “So if I do this again, I pitched three things: I want a guy that lost his wife recently, so he’s dealing with grief; I want a guy with the family that doesn’t get along; And then he has a custom car shop.”

That’s why Allen’s Shifting Gears character is “not like the other guys” he’s played on sitcoms.

“He’s more like me. I’m more of an artist. I was a design student and a philosopher and my standup comedy is really about messing with people in a good way,” Allen concluded. “I came from a huge family run by women. So my perspective is very different about men. I don’t think we run things. So I want this to be that guy. He’s not a man’s man in that term, and he wasn’t trying to be anything but what he does.”

Allen has long been known as one of the funniest people on television. His post about feeling a “profound sense of sadness” serves as a reminder that you never really know what someone is going through behind the scenes.

Please join us in saying a prayer for Allen and his mental health moving forward. We all love you, Tim Allen!