Fame found Heidi Van Pelt after she got married to famous ’90s child actor Taran Noah Smith. Before their marriage, Van Pelt was a vegan chef and entrepreneur. Smith is best known for portraying Mark Taylor in the TV sitcom, “Home Improvement.” The show aired from 1991 until 1999.
Marrying Smith launched Heidi Van Pelt to stardom rather than her career as a chef. As soon as they tied the knot, interest in her person surged due to the details of their marriage. However, happily ever after was not in the books for the former couple.
What could have happened? Read on to find out.
Who Is Heidi Van Pelt?
Heidi Van Pelt is a chef famous for her former marriage to Taran Noah Smith. She was born on July 11, 1968, in Missouri, United States, and had lower-class parents.
Pelt was the only child her parents welcomed, so she grew up lonely and isolated. Things got worse after her parents divorced. At the time, Pelt was one year old and was raised by her single mother, Marsha Duncan.
It was not an easy time for either of them. Duncan needed to work several jobs, including as a city clerk, just to make ends meet. As such, Pelt hardly got a lot of affection from her as a child.
She attended an elementary school in her neighborhood when she came of age, then went on to BluePrint High School, where she studied for some time before transferring to Oak Park High School.
As a budding woman, Pelt had a lot of passions which she attempted to study in college. She enrolled in Stephens College, Colombia, to study Design and Fashion but never finished it.
She later transferred to the University of Missouri, where she attempted to study German and Philosophy. However, she once more failed to finish the degree. In 1988, Pelt enrolled at the University of Washington. She suddenly desired to become a CIA agent, so she decided to study the Russian language at the University.
Unfortunately, she did not complete that course either, as she dropped out just one semester before she graduated.
Heidi Van Pelt Career
After dropping out for the third time, Pelt decided schooling was not for her. She founded a media company called Emergent Films but later left it behind when she moved to Los Angeles from Washington.
In Los Angeles, she struggled to put food on the table and resorted to working odd jobs, including as a movie production assistant and prop master. Eventually, she picked up vegetarianism and became interested in making vegan dishes. It prompted her to return to school again, so she took online classes at the American Academy of Nutrition and became certified as a Nutritional Counselor.
After that, Pelt landed a job as a nutritionist in a clinic located in Los Angeles. She later saw an unexpected opening as a vegan chef when she secured a job as the co-anchor of the radio program called “Raw Health.”
The program quickly became popular because Americans had been warming up to vegan cooking. It boosted her to fame, but none compared to the popularity she enjoyed when she married Smith.
How Did Heidi Van Pelt and Taran Noah Smith Meet?
Pelt and Smith were introduced to one another by a mutual friend. This was around 1999, but Pelt was in a relationship then, so they stayed friends. They met again in 2000 and immediately hit it off after discussing their problems. Their friendship quickly morphed into a relationship, and not long after, Pelt moved in with Smith and his family.
However, a disaster was around the corner because Smith had lied to his parents about Pelt being 16 years older than him. When she allegedly met him for the first time, he was just 14, and she was about 30.
His parents discovered when she was issued a parking ticket and promptly sent her packing. It caused controversy in their household because Smith refused to let her go. They left Los Angeles after that and moved to Lawrence, where they secretly married.
Heidi Van Pelt and Taran Noah Smith’s Marriage and Divorce
The wedding went down in a strip in Topeka on April 27, 2001. At this time, Smith was yet to become an adult, while Pelt was 33 legally. The public did not take kindly to news of their wedding, and there was outrage over their age difference. However, this did not stop them from staying married.
They remained married for about six years before they parted ways in February 2007. It is speculated that their finances and infidelity were the two major causes of their split.
They fought for custody of their only child Nolan Smith and over their joint businesses, with Pelt winning both. It was a sad end, but their fans seemed to have seen it coming, as it was not a shock to them.
Other celebrities who married people much older than themselves include Nick Canon, Ashton Kutcher, and Dwayne Wade.
