Heidi From Home Improvement Was Pregnant In Real-Life During This Season

Debbe Dunning became a mom for the first time while "Home Improvement" was on the air, and her pregnancy was even worked into Season 6 of the show. Yup, no prosthetics here — Dunning was really pregnant with her daughter when Heidi Keppert was carrying hers. 

Dunning joined the cast of "Home Improvement" in its third season, and even though she initially wasn't one of its stars, that changed a few years in. As she recalled in an interview with Celebrity Café, at the show's 100th episode celebration, the writer-producers asked if she'd like a bigger role, which she heartily accepted. Fast-forward to 1996, when she was pregnant with her and Steve Timmons' first child, and they found the perfect way to make their happy circumstances a part of the show: Keppert would be pregnant with her own first child. As fans may recall, Dunning's character ended up going into labor in one episode, and Tim Allen and Patricia Richardson's characters had to deliver the baby. 

That episode, "The Tool Man Delivers," aired in November 1996, and Dunning's daughter (who is just as stunning as the actor, BTW), Spencer Schae Timmons, was born just under two weeks later. Dunning didn't give birth again until after the show wrapped ("Home Improvement" ended in 1999 and Dunning welcomed her second child in 2000 and her third in 2008), but it is worth noting that the production team used Dunning's first pregnancy as a starting point for another Season 6 storyline. 

Debbe Dunning's pregnancy being written into "Home Improvement" was a pretty sure sign of support from the show's production, but unfortunately, there was one occasion a few months later that left the actor feeling incredibly vulnerable. This, after Tim Allen flippantly mentioned to a newly postpartum Dunning that he'd run into Pamela Anderson (the original "Tool Time Girl") and that she may want to return to the show. 

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly about her response to Allen's spitballing, Dunning recalled crying on set. She ended up needing to have her makeup done all over again as the stage manager reassured her that her job was safe, and later on, a producer reiterated that to her as well. The producer also asked if they could use the situation for a storyline, to which Dunning agreed, and she recalled saying, "I just don't want to feel threatened with my job. I love my job so much, and I just had a kid and I'm supporting a house and a child." The storyline ultimately played out in the Season 6 finale, "The Kiss & the Kiss-Off." The episode featured a cameo from Anderson's character, Allen offering her a job, and Heidi Keppert quitting over it — and in a perfect moment of sitcom justice, Allen's character caught a lot of flak. Sticking with the new baby theme, Tim Taylor even had to go to Keppert's mommy-and-me class to ask her to return to the show. 

Like we said, Dunning didn't have her two sons until after "Home Improvement" ended, so we only saw her pregnant on the show for that one season. However, something tells us if she had had another baby while it was still on the air, the "Home Improvement" team would have rolled with it again.