Who Is Heidi Van Pelt? The Amazing Life Story of Taran Noah Smith’s Ex-Wife

Heidi Van Pelt is an American vegan chef, nutrition counselor, and entrepreneur who became widely known after she married former Home Improvement child actor Taran Noah Smith in 2001. The couple drew headlines because of their age gap, and their business partnership drew even more attention when it fell apart during a 2007 divorce and lawsuit. Since then, Van Pelt has lived far more privately than most people who once appeared in tabloid coverage. This guide explains who she is, what she built, how her marriage unfolded, and which details reliable sources can confirm. It also flags the claims that change from site to site, so you can separate documented facts from internet guesswork.

Detail	Information
Full name	Heidi Van Pelt
Also listed as	Heidi VanPelt Belle in some local coverage
Profession	Vegan chef, nutrition counselor, entrepreneur
Reported birth year	1968 (exact date varies by source)
Reported birthplace	Missouri, United States
Nationality	American
Best known for	Marriage to Taran Noah Smith and the Playfood business
Former spouse	Taran Noah Smith
Wedding date	April 27, 2001
Divorce filed	February 2, 2007
Age difference	About 16 years older than Smith
Business ventures	Playfood, Emergent Films (reported), Füd restaurant (reported)
Media appearance	Herself, credited as “Taran’s Wife,” in an E! True Hollywood Story episode
Children	No confirmed public information
Public profile today	Private

What Are the Key Facts About Heidi Van Pelt?

Heidi Van Pelt is a Missouri born vegan chef and businesswoman whose public profile comes mostly from her marriage to Taran Noah Smith. The table below collects the details that appear consistently across IMDb, Wikipedia, and news based summaries.

Keep in mind that Van Pelt has never been a mainstream celebrity. Many websites copy each other, so this article relies on IMDb, Wikipedia, and the newspaper reports those pages cite whenever possible.

Where Did Heidi Van Pelt Grow Up?

Most profiles say Heidi Van Pelt grew up in Missouri, but no major outlet has published a detailed account of her childhood. Several biographies report that she attended college, tried different fields of study, and left before finishing her degree. They also say she started a small film and media company called Emergent Films during that period.

Those early details come from secondary profiles, not from interviews she gave to national reporters. Treat them as reported rather than confirmed. What the sources do agree on is her direction after those early years: she turned toward nutrition, plant based cooking, and alternative approaches to food. That interest shaped every business she later joined or started.

How Did Heidi Van Pelt Build Her Career in Food?

Heidi Van Pelt built her career around vegan cooking and nutrition counseling. Profiles describe her as a certified nutritional counselor who developed recipes and food concepts centered on raw and plant based ingredients. One widely repeated detail says she hosted a radio program called Raw Health, which introduced her to animal rights and vegan communities. That detail comes from lower tier websites, so readers should view it with some caution.

Her best documented business role came through Playfood, a California company that made nondairy cheese and also operated as a vegan restaurant. Later, according to several profiles, she opened a vegan restaurant in Kansas City called Füd. Together, these ventures show a consistent pattern. She focused on food that avoids animal products, and she tried to turn that focus into working businesses at a time when vegan dining was far less common in the United States than it is now.

Who Is Taran Noah Smith?

Taran Noah Smith is an American businessman and former actor who played Mark Taylor, the youngest son on the sitcom Home Improvement. According to Wikipedia, he appeared in 201 episodes between 1991 and 1999 and won Young Artist Awards for his work, including honors in 1992 and 1994.

Smith stepped away from acting as a teenager. In a 2001 quote cited by Wikipedia, he said he started the show at seven and never had a chance to decide what he wanted from life. He later attended the University of Southern California and became a vegan. In 2014, he volunteered on disaster relief work in the Philippines, and he now serves as technical manager for the Community Submersibles Project, where he teaches people to pilot small submarines. This background matters because it explains why a former child star was drawn to a vegan food business rather than another acting job.

How Did Heidi Van Pelt Meet Taran Noah Smith?

Heidi Van Pelt and Taran Noah Smith reportedly met through vegan and animal rights circles around 1999 or 2000. Accounts differ on the exact year and setting, and neither of them gave a detailed, verified account to major outlets at the time. Most profiles agree that Smith was a teenager and Van Pelt was in her early thirties when they became close.

They married on April 27, 2001. Wikipedia lists Smith as 17 at the wedding and notes that Van Pelt was 16 years older. The relationship moved quickly from friendship and shared food values to marriage and a joint business plan. That speed, combined with the age difference, shaped how the public and the press reacted.

Why Did Their Marriage Draw So Much Attention?

Their marriage drew attention because of the 16 year age gap, Smith’s youth, and the money tied to his acting career. Smith had earned roughly $1.5 million during Home Improvement, and that money sat in a trust fund. Wikipedia reports that he gained control of it at 18, and Associated Press coverage from April 2002 described the legal fight that led to that outcome.

During those years, Smith also disagreed publicly with his parents. His mother, Candy Bennici, later said in a 2015 Marin Independent Journal interview that the family worked to protect the trust, and Smith later said he came to understand his parents were trying to look out for him. Critics and tabloids speculated that Van Pelt married him for money. No court record or reliable report proves that claim, and readers should treat it as gossip rather than fact. What the record does show is a young man with a large trust, a much older partner, and a family in open conflict.

What Was Playfood?

Playfood was a California based company that made nondairy cheese and served vegan and organic food. Wikipedia says Smith and his then wife formed the business in 2005, and it combined a manufacturing side with a restaurant. One profile says Van Pelt handled nutrition and recipes while Smith worked on the business side, which fits with her training and his interest in running a company.

The venture gave the couple a shared purpose beyond their public image. It also tied their finances together, and that connection made the later breakup harder. When a marriage and a business share the same bank accounts, a personal dispute quickly becomes a legal one. That is what happened at Playfood.

Why Did Heidi Van Pelt and Taran Noah Smith Divorce?

Heidi Van Pelt and Taran Noah Smith filed for divorce on February 2, 2007, after about six years of marriage. The Kansas City Star reported on the split in February 2007, and Wikipedia cites that article for the filing date.

Business conflict sat at the center of the case. According to the IMDb biography summary, Smith filed a lawsuit and asked for a temporary injunction against his former wife and business partner in 2007. Several profiles say he alleged she moved money from Playfood into a separate venture. Reports say the court gave Smith control of the company, and Playfood closed afterward. Public records do not fully document the financial outcome, so no one outside the case can state the final numbers with confidence.

Other websites repeat claims about partying, affairs, and custody fights. Those claims trace back to unnamed sources, and the couple had no children together according to most accounts. This article does not treat those rumors as fact.

What Did Heidi Van Pelt Do After the Divorce?

After the divorce, Heidi Van Pelt reportedly returned to Missouri and went back to food entrepreneurship. A Kansas City outlet called The Pitch is often cited as the source for her return to the area. Multiple profiles say she then opened Füd, a vegan restaurant in Kansas City, and that it closed around 2017.

Those profiles also say she continued working as a nutrition consultant and plant based food adviser. The pattern is clear even if the small details vary. Van Pelt kept working in the same field that brought her into public view, but she did it without the celebrity attention that surrounded her wedding. She built her later work around local food, community, and health rather than around her connection to Home Improvement.

Where Is Heidi Van Pelt Now?

Heidi Van Pelt lives a private life, and reports place her in Missouri. She has not given recent interviews to major outlets, and she does not appear to run a public social media presence tied to her former marriage. No reliable source shares a current address or workplace, and this article does not try to find one.

That silence is understandable. Her fame came from a relationship that ended almost two decades ago, and she never sought a career in entertainment. Her appearance on E! True Hollywood Story, credited on IMDb, remains one of her few documented media moments. Anyone claiming to know her daily routine or current business should provide a named, verifiable source.

Which Details About Heidi Van Pelt Are Still Unclear?

Several details about Heidi Van Pelt remain unclear because the sources conflict or offer no proof. Readers often search for these facts, so it helps to know where the evidence stops.

Net worth. A few sites list figures such as $300,000, but none show how they calculated the number. A reliable net worth estimate for a private person requires financial records that are not public.

Children. Some sites say she has no children, and others claim she has a child with a later partner. No trustworthy outlet has confirmed either version, and a child’s privacy deserves respect.

Exact birth date. Many profiles give a specific date in 1968, but they rarely cite a document. This article uses 1968 as the reported birth year, which makes her about 58 in 2026.

Name variations. Local coverage sometimes adds the surname Belle, which suggests a later name change or a related family name. The sources do not explain it.

Business outcomes. The final result of the Playfood lawsuit is not fully documented in public records.

Checking these gaps protects you from copying errors that already spread across dozens of low quality pages.

Conclusion

Heidi Van Pelt is more than a name attached to a Home Improvement star. She is a vegan chef and entrepreneur who joined a young celebrity in a high profile marriage, helped launch Playfood, and later returned to Missouri to continue her food career. The most reliable facts are her 2001 wedding, the 2007 divorce filing, and her role in the vegan business world. Everything else deserves careful reading, because rumors and repeated web content fill the gaps that public records leave open.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Heidi Van Pelt?

Heidi Van Pelt is an American vegan chef, nutrition counselor, and entrepreneur. She became publicly known after marrying former Home Improvement actor Taran Noah Smith in 2001. She also helped start Playfood, a California company that made nondairy cheese, and reportedly opened a vegan restaurant in Kansas City after her divorce.

How old is Heidi Van Pelt?

Most profiles report that Heidi Van Pelt was born in 1968, which makes her about 58 years old in 2026. Sources disagree on the exact birth date, and few cite a document. She was about 16 years older than Taran Noah Smith, according to Wikipedia and several news based summaries.

When did Heidi Van Pelt marry and divorce Taran Noah Smith?

Heidi Van Pelt and Taran Noah Smith married on April 27, 2001. They filed for divorce on February 2, 2007, after about six years together. The Kansas City Star reported on the split in February 2007, and Wikipedia cites that report for the filing date.

What was Playfood?

Playfood was a California company that Taran Noah Smith and Heidi Van Pelt formed in 2005. It made nondairy cheese and operated as a vegan and organic food business with a restaurant. The company became part of their 2007 legal dispute, and reports say it closed after the divorce.

Did Heidi Van Pelt appear on Home Improvement?

No, Heidi Van Pelt did not appear on Home Improvement. Her link to the show came through her marriage to Taran Noah Smith, who played Mark Taylor. IMDb credits her only as herself, listed as “Taran’s Wife,” in an E! True Hollywood Story episode about the sitcom.