12/12/2019 Mercury Reader nickiswift.com 's tragic real-life story

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Jim Carrey's wild personality, kooky facial expressions, and outlandish sense of humor have been making the world chuckle since the '80s. After snagging a gig on The Tonight Show at the age of 21, he parlayed his newfound success into a recurring spot on the '90s sketch comedy show In Living Color. He tickled our funny bones as he depicted memorable characters, such as Fire Marshall Bill and the buff bodybuilder Vera de Milo, and it was clear as day that Carrey had no limit to how far he would go to bring laughter into his fans' lives.

Box office success soon followed, with movies such as : Pet Detective and Dumb and Dumber, but despite his accomplishments, he has struggled with inner turmoil that manifested itself during his childhood and wreaked havoc in his life well into his adult years. This is the tragic real-life story of Jim Carrey.

Jim Carrey grew up grappling with a fear that his parents, who were "heavy smokers" weren't going to survive. "I remember locking myself in the bathroom and crying because I thought they were going to die. They banged on the door, telling me to come out. I don't know if I got over that fear at that time; it was just kind of with me," he told The Hollywood Reporter. His fears heightened as his mom freely talked about her own mortality. "I remember being seven years old and my mother at the dinner table saying things like, 'My brain is deteriorating at an incredible rate!' or 'My angina's acting up; I could go at any time!'" he recalled. "Things like that would just shake me to the core."

Those tragic childhood circumstances inspired Carrey to pen 2013 children's book, How Roland Rolls, which tackles some of the serious topics that affect young people. "One of the things I've always wanted to talk about or deal with is the fact that kids have profound feelings and profound questions that people don't give them credit for. They think about life and death and 'What happens when something happens to Mom? What happens when something happens to me?'"

Carrey eventually came to grips with his mom's outspoken banter, realizing it was her way of "getting attention and getting love," — but it was at the cost of scaring the bejesus out of him.

https://www.nickiswift.com/117356/jim-carreys-tragic-real-life-story/ 1/9 12/12/2019 Mercury Reader Jim Carrey also dealt with bouts of loneliness as a child, which he described in a December 1984 issue of Interview magazine. When asked if his childhood was unusual in any sort of way, he made the startling admission: "Well, I spent most of my time in my room staring at a mirror. I never knew I was supposed to socialize," he said. He went on to say that he would spend "hours" making faces at himself in front of the mirror, but he described the memory in a nostalgic way by claiming he was just "having a good time."

While chatting with James Lipton on Inside the Actors Studio (via the Daily Mail), the Liar Liar actor shared more secrets about his life of solitude, but he hinted that his aversion to being a social butterfly may have been self-imposed. After dropping out of school, he said he went from being a "straight-A student to not wanting to know anybody's name, and not wanting to make a friend."

The Carrey family's financial hardships meant tough times were abundant. The comedian revealed in an interview with Inside the Actors Studio (via People), that he and his family even had to live "in a van for a while."

However, Jim Carrey managed to turn those difficult times into a source of laughter: "A lot of people don't know this but when I was about 14 or 15, my father lost his job and I actually became homeless for quite some time, but of course, I grew up in Canada and I thought we'd gone camping," he says in one of his earlier comedy skits. Thankfully, those difficult days are now over, and Carrey has used his fortunes to give his lifestyle a complete 180, like the time he purchased a beachside Malibu home that he later sold for a whopping $13.4 million. Cha-ching!

During The Hollywood Reporter's June 2019 roundtable chat with other Hollywood comedy legends, Jim Carrey revealed a particularly tragic evening he endured as a fledgling stand-up comic. Describing a disastrous set at Los Angeles' famous Comedy Store as "an exercise in self-punishment and punishment for [the audience]," Carrey said he refused to leave the stage "for two hours" even though the crowd hated him so much that audience members literally threw chairs.

"I finally got offstage to huge applause just because I mentioned I was going to leave the stage," Carrey said, adding, "Then I crawled through the audience on my hands and knees, popped up behind the piano and started banging on the keys, singing, 'I hate you all, you gave me cancer.'" The 250-person crowd didn't love that either, and all but five people supposedly walked out. Though Carey was clearly working through some issues and was the antagonist in the situation, he left the show feeling devastated. "I got in the car and I cried all the way home," he said, "Because I don't want to make people unhappy." https://www.nickiswift.com/117356/jim-carreys-tragic-real-life-story/ 2/9 12/12/2019 Mercury Reader In an interview with CNN's Larry King, Jim Carrey described himself as a "weird, serious person," and he dove deeper into that topic when he chatted with iNews. His "serious" personality isn't one the public gets to see often, and it could be attributed to the actor's struggle with depression. He revealed that it took him some time, but he was able to get to a point where he was "sometimes happy."

After gradually ditching Prozac, abstaining from alcohol and drugs, and limiting his coffee intake, Carrey found that his mental wellness improved. To keep depression at bay, he looked toward the spiritual side of his life. "Jesus. I'm a Buddhist, I'm a Muslim, I'm a Christian. I'm whatever you want me to be," he told 60 Minutes. "It all comes down to the same thing ... You are either in a loving place, or you are in an unloving place. If you are with me right now, you cannot be unhappy. It's not possible, just try."

We've seen Jim Carrey hit up the red carpet with a bevy of beautiful women, but one of his most well-known relationships was with fellow actress and comedienne Jenny McCarthy. After five years together, the couple announced its breakup. "Those moments where you saw us together, was it love? You're damned right it was," McCarthy told Oprah Winfrey in September 2010. "The problem is there wasn't a photographer when the times were rough."

After going their separate ways, Carrey turned to art as a form of therapy. In the documentary, Jim Carrey: I Needed Color, he said painting and creating clay sculptures helped him "heal a broken heart." Although he didn't mention McCarthy by name, the timeline of their breakup coincided with his foray into the art world. "When I really started painting a lot, I had become so obsessed that there was nowhere to move in my home. Paintings were everywhere, they were becoming part of the furniture. I was eating on them," he said.

Jim Carrey has had a long list of leading women in and out of his life. He married actress Melissa Womer in 1987, and they had a daughter, Jane, before they went their separate ways. He married his Dumb and Dumber co-star, , in 1996, but she filed for divorce in July 1997. A string of rocky relationships followed, including a broken engagement to his Me, Myself & Irene co-star Renée Zellweger (pictured).

After news broke that his aforementioned romance with Jenny McCarthy was on the skids, those close to the actor spoke out about Carrey's relationship style in unflattering terms. One source labeled the comedian "a hard guy to date," telling People that "Jim can run hot and he can run cold. He is someone who desperately needs to be with someone, then just as desperately needs to be alone. But at the same time, he can be a very loving, very compassionate guy."

https://www.nickiswift.com/117356/jim-carreys-tragic-real-life-story/ 3/9 12/12/2019 Mercury Reader Jim Carrey was tapped to play the late comedian Andy Kaufman in the 1999 film Man on the Moon. It was a riveting performance, described as "eerily dead-on" by Rotten Tomatoes. Even legendary movie critic Roger Ebert was impressed, writing that Carrey "successfully disappears inside the character." Carrey agreed, but in a much darker way, telling The Talks in 2018 that the role made him realize he had the ability to "lose" himself in a character. He said he needed a full month to rediscover himself and ask tough questions, such as, "What do I believe? What are my politics? What do I like and dislike?"

The dangers of method acting — which The New Yorker describes as the act of linking "emotional moments from a performer's life to that of a character" — have long been a topic of discussion. Carrey confessed to The Talks " that he was "depressed" after playing Kauffman. "If I can put Jim Carrey aside for four months, who is Jim Carrey?" the funnyman pondered. "Who the hell is that?"

Another one of Jim Carrey's relationships that made headlines was his controversial romance with makeup artist Cathriona White, whom he met on a film set in 2012, according to USA Today. White tragically took her own life in September 2015 by overdosing on prescription drugs, and Carrey was a pallbearer at her funeral. The following year, White's estranged husband, Mark Burton, and her mother, Brigid Sweetman, sued the actor for wrongful death, claiming Carrey had infected White with "three STDs without warning her" and had supplied her with the painkillers that she used to commit suicide.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Carrey fought back with a countersuit claiming White attempted to extort him in 2013 by threatening to reveal her STD allegation. He also claimed that her mother and estranged husband's wrongful death lawsuit was just another way for her family to attempt to exploit him. The legal battle got nasty, but the whole thing was dismissed in January 2018, according to a statement Carrey's rep gave to The Hollywood Reporter. No further details were given by either of the parties following the suit's dismissal, although Carrey's lawyer told the website the actor was looking forward to moving on with his life.

Jim Carrey was once at the top of the proverbial showbiz food chain, commanding $20 million to star in the 1994 film Dumb & Dumber. It was an unprecedented amount of cash that rattled those in Hollywood, according to the Los Angeles Times. Unfortunately, money wasn't the answer to Carrey's problems, so he took a hiatus. "I just didn't want to be in the business anymore," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "I didn't like what was happening, the corporations taking over and all that."

https://www.nickiswift.com/117356/jim-carreys-tragic-real-life-story/ 4/9 12/12/2019 Mercury Reader Prior to making his triumphant return to the small screen in the 2018 Showtime series , Carrey told The Talks he went through many "awakenings" that made him question everything. "What are we? Why are we here? And the answer to both of those questions is: nothing, no reason, as far as I am concerned," he said. When asked what he thought "prompted those awakenings," Carrey replied, "I guess just getting to the place where you have everything everybody has ever desired and realizing you are still unhappy."

Although Carrey also stressed that "[his] ability to understand suffering" was a "way to salvation" and "compassion" that ultimately set him "free," it's clear there seems to be a darker side to the legendary entertainer who has made us laugh so much throughout the years.

Actor and comedian Jim Carrey first met actress and former Playboy model Jenny McCarthy in 2005. The couple spent five years together and appeared to define happiness, so family, friends, and fans when shocked when the duo announced its split in April 2010.

The separation seemed amicable. McCarthy told Us Weekly in a statement that she was "so grateful for the years Jim and I shared together. I will continue to be in his daughter's life and will always keep Jim as a leading man in my heart." Carrey echoed her sentiment on social media, tweeting: "Jenny and I have just ended our 5yr relationship. I'm grateful 4 the many blessings we've shared and I wish her the very best! S'okay!"

But according to insiders, not all was as peaceful as it seemed, and rumors soon surfaced about problems behind the scenes. What really catalyzed this surprising separation? Let's take a closer look.

As speculation surrounding the couple's sudden split made headlines, it was Oprah Winfrey who finally asked McCarthy about the breakup during a 2010 interview. And Oprah bluntly asked what everyone else was thinking: "Tell me, when did you know it was over?"

Placed on the spot, the self-described "warrior mom" revealed that the relationship had lost its luster over time. "The first thing is, when it's not fun anymore, you need to start investigating and do an inquiry into the relationship," she said. Asked if she might get back together with Jim Carrey, the actress replied, "I didn't even think about that."

Although the split may have come as a shock to even those closest to the couple, one of Carrey's friends told People that the former lovebirds' personalities were at odds

https://www.nickiswift.com/117356/jim-carreys-tragic-real-life-story/ 5/9 12/12/2019 Mercury Reader with one another from the start—something that may have caused tensions to mount over time.

"She is really 'Go get 'em!' when it comes to publicity, and Jim is nothing like that," the source told the mag, pointing out that his friend is "a hard guy to date. Jim can run hot and he can run cold. He is someone who desperately needs to be with someone, then just as desperately needs to be alone. But at the same time, he can be a very loving, very compassionate guy."

"Really, they are such different people," the insider said. "When he is not working, he wants to lie low. I was surprised they made it work as long as they were able to. Jenny can be really aggressive and ambitious."

The actor has been open about his battle with depression, telling 60 Minutes in 2004, "I was on Prozac for a long time. It may have helped me out of a jam for a little bit, but people stay on it forever. I had to get off at a certain point because I realized that, you know, everything's just OK," he said." There are peaks, there are valleys. But they're all kind of carved and smoothed out, and it feels like a low level of despair you live in. Where you're not getting any answers, but you're living OK. And you can smile at the office." Carrey said he eventually swore off all drugs, even coffee.

People magazine's senior editor David Caplan said (via ABC News) the legendary comedian's mental health may have impacted his life with McCarthy: "Jim has suffered from depression and that might have taken a toll on the relationship."

Carrey was very loving and hands-on with McCarthy's son, Evan Joseph Asher, whom she had with her ex-husband, director John Asher, in 2002, but according to the experts, the pressures of raising a child with autism could have contributed to the couple's split.

According to Lori Warner, director of Michigan's Beaumont Hospital's HOPE Center, "Popular estimates of the divorce rate of parents of children with autism are 80 percent and above." The reason: "Parents of children with autism are at higher risk for anxiety and depression," she said. "Evan's condition has always been very public and out in the open, it's just not your typical parenting situation."

In 2012, McCarthy lashed out publicly at her ex on Howard Stern's radio show, slamming the funnyman for not staying in touch with Evan. "I've tried to ask [Jim] numerous times [to see Evan], because my son still asks," she said two years after their split, claiming Carrey had refused to do so every single time.

https://www.nickiswift.com/117356/jim-carreys-tragic-real-life-story/ 6/9 12/12/2019 Mercury Reader Carrey fired back. "I will always do what I believe is in the best interest of Evan's well being," he said (via TMZ). "It's unfortunate that Evan's privacy is not being considered. I love Evan very much and will miss him always." A Carrey insider claimed McCarthy never even contacted Carrey about spending time with her son.

It's safe to say this couple wasn't on the same page in terms of parenting style—yet another valid reason to part ways.

Despite all of their red carpet appearances and confessions of love (Carrey once hired a plane to write "J Hearts J" in the Los Angeles sky on Valentine's Day), whenever talk of marriage came up, the couple seemed to avoid the topic.

In 2010, Us Weekly interviewed former Playboy model McCarthy at the 8th Annual World Poker Tournament in Los Angeles and asked her if she was thinking of taking a walk down the aisle with her beau. Her response? "We say 'never,' but I don't know, maybe for tax purposes, someday, when we are old," she said.

Could it be that, deep down, they knew they weren't meant to be?

Onlookers reportedly began to sense trouble between Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey during an autism fundraiser at a neighbor's home in Pacific Palisades, Calif. One attendee told People, "He was at ease, but Jenny rarely smiled and looked serious. There wasn't that spark between them. They didn't seem to be in sync." That being said, when less than a month later the couple came out and publicly announced the end of their five-year relationship, the news came as a shock. As another source told the mag, it "was a huge surprise to even those of us who are close to them. Everyone around them is sad."

Less than a month later, when the couple publicly called it quits, many were still caught off guard. An insider told People the split "was a huge surprise to even those of us who are close to them. Everyone around them is sad."

Following the split, some supporters were still rooting for Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy to reconcile, but the stars went their separate ways and continued their individual quests for love.

Carrey has generally tried to keep his love life private, but in January 2019 his rep confirmed to the press that he was seeing actress Ginger Gonzaga, according to People. They starred together in Showtime's Kidding, and Gonzaga also had a role in I'm Dying Up Here. (Carrey was an executive producer.)

https://www.nickiswift.com/117356/jim-carreys-tragic-real-life-story/ 7/9 12/12/2019 Mercury Reader McCarthy, on the other hand, made a big splash when she married actor and former New Kids on the Block member Donnie Wahlberg in August of 2014. The newlyweds even filmed a docuseries called Donnie Loves Jenny.

Few understood the toll Carrey's breakup with Jenny McCarthy took on the comedian until the release of his 2017 mini documentary, Jim Carrey: I Needed Color. In the 6- minute film, the 55-year-old revealed that he turned to painting, sculpting, and mixed media as a coping mechanism for "trying to heal a broken heart."

"When your heart is in love, you're floating, weightless," he says in the documentary. "When you lose that love, you have to reenter the atmosphere and it can get pretty rough, because you're just bouncing off one molecule and onto the next, rippin' through them at such a pace that they just ignite and explode."

During that time, Carrey says he created so much art and became "so obsessed that there was nowhere to move in my home. Paintings were everywhere. They were becoming part of the furniture. I was eating on them."

After Carrey poked fun at Shia LaBeouf during the 2014 Golden Globes, the latter took to Twitter and made things personal, writing, "At least I don't get arrested for indecency on major LA highways! Or abandon love child's."

McCarthy, then a co-host on The View, was having none of the diss, and she publicly stood up for her former flame. "Jim and I have become friends now since our breakup," she declared on national TV. "We dated for five years and I got to know his daughter, Jane, who is a lovely, lovely girl. It's completely uncalled for and wrong. Jim is a great father."

Fast forward to 2016 and, once again, McCarthy made it clear that she cares deeply for her ex-boyfriend. Just one day after White took her own life, paparazzi caught up with McCarthy at LaGuardia Airport and asked her to respond to the heartbreaking news about Jim Carrey's on-again, off-again partner. McCarthy mostly kept mum, but did take the opportunity to send her friend: "Prayers. Just prayers."

According to Radar Online, McCarthy's husband, Donnie Wahlberg, whom she married in 2014, does not approve of his wife maintaining close ties with her ex. A source claimed, "Jenny and Jim are always on the phone talking and it's starting to bug Donnie. Jenny pretty much dismisses his irritation, but it's putting things on dangerous ground."

The insider claimed Wahlberg "knows Jim has a hold over her and he's not happy about this renewed contact. Donnie is very paranoid about Jim Carrey trying to win https://www.nickiswift.com/117356/jim-carreys-tragic-real-life-story/ 8/9 12/12/2019 Mercury Reader her back and is under no illusion that he has the charms to do it."

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