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Home / Entertainment

Note written by Jim Carrey's ex-girlfriend blames actor for 'ruining her life'

Daily Mail
30 Sep, 2017 05:26 AM13 mins to read

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Cathriona White died just short of two weeks after 30th birthday.

Cathriona White died just short of two weeks after 30th birthday.

In a newly-discovered note that she wrote two years before taking her own life, Jim Carrey's ex-girlfriend blamed the actor for exposing her to a debauched life of sex and drugs and scorned him for "giving her" herpes.

The note was written by Cathriona White on April 8, 2013, on her iPad. It is not known if she ever sent it to Carrey before she took her own life on September 28, 2015. She died just short of two weeks after 30th birthday, said the Daily Mail.

At the time, she and Carrey had broken up after she told him about testing positive for herpes. He maintains that he never had the disease and that she contracted it before they met.

The note was discovered by lawyers working on behalf of her family in a wrongful death lawsuit against Carrey, 55. They say he gave her the pills to kill herself after obtaining them in a false name and allege that he gave her STDs without warning her.

On Friday, just as White's 2013 note was obtained by DailyMail.com, Carrey dropped the bombshell that he had already paid her an undisclosed sum of money in 2013 to settle her STD claims and that her mother and ex-husband's current attempt to get more from him amounts to extortion.

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He did not reveal how much money he paid her but said is now demanding that he be given back three times as much.

The star dismissed their accusation that he caused her death and said instead that she decided to take her own life because she felt guilty about extorting him two years earlier and that she was upset about a message her mother had sent her two weeks before she died.

Carrey said it was a "mistake" to settle the claims in 2013 with White and her former lawyer Filippo Marchino and vowed: "I will not give in a second time."

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White's 2013 note describes in her own words the couple's tumultuous relationship and gives a damning description of how she felt the actor treated her.

In it, she told how she "was promised Jekyll but got Hyde".

"You did good things for me but being with you broke me down as a person Jim. I was promise Jekyll and instead I got Hyde.

"Because I love you I would have stuck out Hyde all year and done everything he wanted to be with Jekyll for 5 of those but you threw me away when you absorbed anything worthwhile that was left of me," she wrote.

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White, who was 30 when she died, blamed Carrey for giving her HPV and HSV - the medical abbreviation for Herpes Simplex - and begged him to take more care with other girls.

"You have not thought about the stigma I have to live with for the rest of my life, you have not apologised or once asked is there something you can do to make it better or even felt bad for it.

"You gave me HSV and HPV, I want you to apologise for it because you care enough to. I want you to understand that however little a thing seems to you, it ruins a girl's life.

"I want you to take care when you are with other girls and pay attention to your body your actions effect people."

The Irish make-up artist also said: "Before you, I might not have had very much but I had respect, I was a happy person.

"I loved life, I was confident and I felt good in my skin and was proud of most decisions I made, I met you, you introduced me to cocaine, prostitutes, mental abuse and disease.

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"You did good things for me but being with you broke me down as a person Jim."

Carrey, who carried White's casket at her 2015 funeral before the suit was filed, claims her STD accusations are false and that she was trying to get back at him for breaking up with her at the time.

In his counter lawsuit on Friday, his lawyers described a "cottage industry" which he said fed on extorting celebrities and "people in Hollywood who have achieved notoriety".

He categorised Mark Burton, White's ex-husband who filed the wrongful death suit on her behalf along with her mother Bridget Sweetman, as a subscriber to the industry.

"Fighting the accusations is painful, time consuming, and extremely expensive-irrespective of the validity or outcome of the claims," he said.

He described White as a "beautiful but immature and emotionally damaged woman" at the start of their relationship and alleges that her former attorney took advantage of her "warm and exciting" romance with the star to profit.

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They allege that before her death, she threatened to "go to the press" with her claim that he had given her Herpes unless he gave her "millions of dollars".

He settled her claim and paid her an undisclosed amount to stop her from making the issue public but insists it was not him who gave her the disease.

In 2015, the pair got back together despite their earlier legal feud.

Carrey's lawsuit claims he thought they would be together permanently after their reconciliation and that her suicide cut that short.

"Then, on the verge of a lasting relationship and love affair, came the unthinkable loss that was Cat's suicide," it said.

In a statement to DailyMail.com on Friday afternoon, Carrey said: "Today I filed a cross-complaint against Fillipo Marchino, The X Law Group, Mark Burton and Brigid Sweetman.

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"Unfortunately, I made the mistake three years ago of giving in and settling false claims made against me by Mr. Marchino, on behalf of Cat, as mounting a public defence is a very costly and painful process.

"At the time I felt Cat was being exploited by Marchino. Since this new case was filed, I have discovered the depth of deception behind those false claims, the kind of deception decent people fall for, because to us, such behavior is unimaginable.

"I will not give in a second time to these same fraudulent charges initiated by Cat's husband in name but not substance Mark Burton, and her estranged mother.

"Nor am I responsible for what these desperate characters have inadvertently unearthed about the woman I adored. I was clearly blinded by my affection.

"Regardless, I will hold a place of empathy, and forgiveness for Cat and continue to focus on the many blessings in this life."

Jim Carrey attends the funeral of Cathriona White. Photo / Getty Images
Jim Carrey attends the funeral of Cathriona White. Photo / Getty Images

His lawsuit claimed that in 2012, he had "fallen" for her and wanted to get married. He claimed they began drawing up a prenup but that he called the union off when it became apparent to him that for her, the marriage "was more about convenience and finding a way to stay in the United States without fear of deportation than about her love for him."

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On October 20 2012, he claimed he told her he would not marry her but that he wanted to continue dating and would help her gain legal status in the country by hiring her an immigration attorney.

Carrey claimed his decision not to marry her turned her "bitter and angry" and that she "lashed out" when he told her to "ease off".

"Dissatisfied, Cat soon became bitter and angry, taking Jim's decision not to marry her as rejection.

"She began placing more pressure on him, including sending him a text adding his last name to hers, "Cathriona Anne Carrey... how does that sound," his lawsuit claimed.

He claimed she continued to put pressure on him to marry her and alleged that this was the reason he called off their romance.

She then, weeks later, married "acquaintance" Mark Burton as a means of staying in the country, he said, and claims that the union had only taken place after she begged other men to marry her to gain immigration status.

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"Cat tried on several occasions to convince other men to marry her so that she could stay in the country and circumvent immigration laws. At one point, she even staged a phony wedding and posted pictures of it on Facebook.

"On another, she was set to marry a man she was seeing until she learned he was already married. Prior to their marriage, Cat and Mr. Burton had worked together but knew little about each other-they had never dated, had never lived together, and they never intended to live as husband and wife.

"In fact, Mr. Burton was "hooking up" with one of Cat's friends..." his lawsuit claims.

When she returned to Los Angeles after her Las Vegas wedding, she continued her "pursuit" of Carrey, he claimed.

The pair broke up in January then reconciled in February, with Carrey agreeing to help her financially with an $800-a-week allowance and a furnished apartment in Santa Monica.

The pair split again in March. Carrey claims the fall out was due to her mounting pressure to get married and his desire for her to "focus on herself".

Her family say he dumped her after she revealed she had tested positive for herpes.

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He claims she then began threatening to go to the press to tell them that he'd given her the STD unless he paid her "millions of dollars".

"The star said her attorney, husband and therapist all goaded her into demanding money from him.

"Filippo Marchino and Mark Burton, along with her therapist, Cynthia Cohen, encouraged, pressured, and pushed Cat to get millions of dollars from Jim and to take him for all that she could.

"For her part, Cat was angry and upset by the breakup, and wanted to hurt Jim as badly as she could," the lawsuit states.

Though he insists she had contracted it before they met, Carrey agreed to pay her a sum and the pair stopped speaking until November 2014 when she got back in touch via text message.

In May 2015, they got back together.

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Carrey claimed she admitted to extorting him and said she felt guilty for it but that she had been pressured by Marchino and her ex-husband.

He said he forgave her and that the pair continued building a future and started working on a co-habitation agreement so that she could permanently move in with him.

She was upset, he said, by his insistence that she sign a non-disclosure confidentiality agreement but that she otherwise seemed "happy" until her 30th birthday on September 14.

That is when he claims she received a hurtful Facebook message from Sweetman - who he said she was estranged from.

The message, he claimed, told her she was "worthless" and would "never amount to anything".

"Cat was crushed; she cried in a fetal position as Jim did his best to try to comfort and console her, even as he was suffering severe pain from a back injury.

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"Devastated, Cat closed down her Facebook account to cut off the last and only avenue of communication with her biological mother.

"Feeling publicly shamed, humiliated, abused, and betrayed, Cat let it be known to her friends (as she had to Jim) that she hated Ms. Sweetman.

"She had no further contact with her mother, from whom she had been estranged for many years," his lawsuit claims.

It was this message and her apparent guilt over "extorting" him two years earlier which he believes prompted her suicide.

"While Cat seemed happy for the most part during the weeks leading up to her death, she was nonetheless burdened by her mother's birthday message, by the anniversary of her father's death, and particularly by the weight and guilt of her prior false claims against Jim and how deeply that had hurt him," his lawyers said.

On Friday, White's attorney Michael J. Avennatti accused the actor of being unstable and pointed to a recent appearance he made at New York Fashion Week which drew concern for his wellbeing.

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"As his red carpet interview from a few weeks ago shows, the guy is incoherent and unhinged. He needs help," Avennatti said.

The interview occurred on September 9 in New York City. Carrey, who'd arrived alone to the event, told E! reporter Cat Sadler who asked him a question: "There's no meaning to any of this.

"I just wanted to find the most meaningless thing that I could come to and join, and here I am. You've got to admit, this is completely meaningless."

When she responded to say the event was scheduled to honor icons, he replied: "Celebrating icons? Oh boy, that is just the lowest aiming possibility that we could come up with. Icons. Do you believe in icons? I believe in personalities.

"I don't believe that you exist but there is a wonderful fragrance in the air.

"I don't believe in icons. I don't believe in personalities. I believe that peace lies beyond personality, beyond invention and disguise. I believe we're a field of energy dancing for itself. And I don't care."

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Timeline of relationship

2012: Carrey and White meet on the set of a film when she worked as a make-up artist
October 2012: Carrey claims he hires a lawyer to draft a prenuptial agreement and plans to marry the woman
January 7 2013: The pair break up
January 9: She married Mark Burton in Las Vegas
January 20 2013: She has a "bad wax job" but tells Carrey bumps on vagina may be STD
February 2013: They reconcile briefly then break up again at the end of the month
End of February 2013: White tells her therapist she has contracted several STDs from Carrey
April 2013: She pens iPad note blaming him for the STDs and demanding an apology
Mid-2013 - November 2014: Carrey claims she demanded money in exchange for silence on STD claims and received it
November 2014: The pair start speaking again
May 2015: They reunite as a couple
September 14, 2015: White's 30th birthday when Carrey said she allegedly received a cruel message from her mother
September 28, 2015: White kills herself by taking cocktail of pills and drugs

WHERE TO GET HELP:

If you are worried about your or someone else's mental health, the best place to get help is your GP or local mental health provider. However, if you or someone else is in danger or endangering others, call 111.

If you need to talk to someone, the following free helplines operate 24/7:

DEPRESSION HELPLINE: 0800 111 757
LIFELINE: 0800 543 354
NEED TO TALK? Call or text 1737
SAMARITANS: 0800 726 666
YOUTHLINE: 0800 376 633 or text 234

There are lots of places to get support. For others, click here.

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