The Lesser-Known Truth Of Jim Carrey
The following article includes mention of addiction, mental health, and suicide.
Actor, comedian, author, and artist Jim Carrey is one of the most beloved entertainers from the turn of the 21st century. His outlandish characters and over-the-top antics have made him both an in-demand and outspoken figure in popular culture. But despite his fame and fortune, the "Sonic the Hedgehog" star has been public about his desire to pursue other forms of artistry, let alone other ways of being human, to return to his true self. "I think everybody who's famous feels lonely," he shared in a 2021 interview with Entertainment Tonight. "I watched through 'The Truman Show' door and was thinking I would leave it all behind and just recreate myself."
Carrey has done just that, reinventing himself as an author, a painter, and a (controversial) social media savant of sorts. Throughout his life, he has faced both triumphs and catastrophes that have shaped his art in each of its forms. "Art is a very vulnerable, open soft spot, and you lay yourself open to be criticized, ripped apart, told you should stay in your lane, and I've never believed in lanes," he once shared with Vulture. There are many aspects of the comedian's life as he continues his decades-long artistic journey that have contributed to who he is and who he is becoming.
He was a homeless high school dropout in his youth
Long before he was a sought-after comedic actor, Jim Carrey faced a number of trying circumstances while growing up in Canada. As a pre-teen, he and his family experienced homelessness after Carrey's father lost his job. "Of course, I grew up in Canada, so I thought we had just gone camping," he once joked during a stand-up set. "But it kept me in the dark a lot ... [My parents] didn't want me to know what was going on anyway because they were embarrassed." By the age of 16, Carrey had dropped out of high school and had taken a job as a janitor to help make ends meet.
The actor also took a job at the same tire factory where his father and brothers worked, where he fell into a rough crowd. "I was angry," he told The Hollywood Reporter in a 2018 interview. "My father was hurting, so I blamed the world ... Everybody had daggers and knives, and I was in the middle of the madness. And I wasn't shrinking from it at all. I wanted to fight." The "madness" of the situation eventually caused the Carreys to quit, and the family lived like nomads in a camper van for a few years. "We lived in campgrounds or we lived on my sister's lawn way out in the country and, sure, it got cold in the tent, but in a weird way it was a much happier time."
He had a complicated relationship with his parents
Jim Carrey has acknowledged that his relationship with his parents has been complex since his youth. His father, who once dreamed of being a comedian, ironically inspired Carrey to become one himself. "I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which is that you can fail at what you don't want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love," he shared in his 2014 commencement address for Maharishi International University.
Carrey tapped into his comedic skills at an early age, something that his family supported from the beginning. "My parents held my comedy up as something special — I was what was special about them in a way," he shared with The Hollywood Reporter in 2018. But with that support also came other feelings that stemmed from a number of plights the family faced, from his father's dejected nature after losing his job to Carrey's mother's substance abuse. "My mom ... was very sick in a lot of ways," Carrey revealed to the outlet. "She was always there for me, she was always there in the house, but if you're high on painkillers, that's abandonment."
Even as he eventually gained fame, Carrey's complicated feelings about his family would still come into play. "At the end of their lives, when his parents were sick and old ... he avoided calling them because of the feelings they would stir in him," the actor's ex-wife, Melissa Womer, told Rolling Stone.
If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
Carrey channeled his childhood troubles into a children's book
In 2013, Jim Carrey utilized a different artistic medium to express his childhood memories and experiences: the written word. Carrey wrote the award-winning children's book "How Roland Rolls." The story centers around Roland, a watery wave who is scared of crashing onto a beach and what the impact will be on him. The story uses waves and the ocean as a metaphor for life.
"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," the actor-turned-author told The Hollywood Reporter. "I believe those are questions that need to be answered for kids; All of these questions I really had a lot when I was a child."
Carrey's inspiration came from multiple streams, from his desire to explore human consciousness to how he processed his childhood memories. "My parents were heavy smokers. I remember locking myself in the bathroom and crying because I thought they were going to die," he continued in the same interview. "I don't know if I got over that fear at that time; it was just kind of with me." In turn, Carrey collaborated with his own daughter, Jane, on accompanying musical pieces that were released with the book. "It sounds like such a silly little thing to have a children's book, but it's been a really profound experience for me," he shared.
His depression was ongoing for a long time.
Jim Carrey has been upfront and honest about his mental health and depression. He has taken antidepressants throughout his life and has attempted to try to find solace from spirituality. "There are peaks, there are valleys," he shared with "60 Minutes" in 2004. "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 okay."
Carrey is not alone in his mental health journey, even in Hollywood. He has bonded with Ariana Grande, a self-professed superfan of the actor, over their shared symptoms. After Grande posted a quote of his discussing his views on depression, the actor responded in kind (via the New York Post): "I admire your openness. I wish you freedom and peace. I feel blessed to have such a gifted admirer." The two would eventually collaborate when Grande appeared on Carrey's Showtime program, "Kidding" in 2020.
As his career has progressed, the entertainer has shared his changing attitude and how it has altered how he sees things in life. "At this point, I don't have depression," he told iNews in 2017. "There is not an experience of depression. I had that for years, but now, when the rain comes, it rains, but it doesn't stay. It doesn't stay long enough to immerse me and drown me anymore."
If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.
He has missed out on some major acting roles
Despite being a major movie star, Jim Carrey has turned down or lost out on some legendary roles over the years. One of the most notable misses included "Saturday Night Live," which he auditioned for three times throughout the 1980s. Carrey was a fledgling stand-up comic at the time, and his wacky impressions (including "Post-Nuclear Elvis") seemed a bit too out there for the "SNL" casting directors.
"I never make it in the normal ways," he reflected on "The Howard Stern Show" in 2014. "It's always the side window or the basement window, or something like that ... I have a psychotic belief system that ... something magical is gonna happen ... if there's no way in, a new way will be created." The comedian went on to feature in another sketch comedy show, "In Living Color," which helped launch him to superstardom in the 1990s. He eventually made it to the "SNL" stage as a host, a role which he has held (ironically) three times.
Carrey has also been on the other side of the casting table, rejecting roles that have been offered to him that went on to be major successes for other actors. One of these roles was the iconic villain, Dr. Evil, in the "Austin Powers" films, a part that star Mike Myers initially offered to Carrey. Carrey eventually turned the role down due to scheduling conflicts with his 1997 movie, "Liar Liar," and Myers himself went on to play the character.
He literally lost himself in a part once
The 1990s proved to be a boon for Jim Carrey in terms of Hollywood stardom. After the success of movies like "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" and "Dumb and Dumber," the actor became a go-to leading man. But in 1999, Carrey's comedic commitment took on method acting and more in "Man on the Moon," a biopic about former "Saturday Night Live" standout Andy Kaufman. Throughout filming, Carrey stayed in character for months on and off set, something that the cast and crew found difficult to work with.
"It was just wacky," co-star Paul Giamatti told Buzzfeed in 2013. "He did this whole thing where he was Andy Kaufman all the time when he was on set and when he was in the costume, and was [Kaufman's alter ego] Tony Clifton all the time when he was Tony Clifton." Even Carrey himself spoke about how the character took hold of him, telling the Los Angeles Times in 2017 that he "broke a couple of times on weekends and stuff, but pretty much from when [he] woke up to when [he] went to bed, the choices were all [Andy's]."
The actor went on to win a Golden Globe for his performance. In 2017, the Netflix documentary called "Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond" was released about Carrey's commitment to the role. "Sooner or later, I'm going to ascend out of that belief and understand: None of this is who I am. None of this matters ... That's liberation," he told the Los Angeles Times.
He was miserable while playing The Grinch
Jim Carrey became a Christmas icon playing the title role in the 2000 live-action adaptation of "Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas." But to get into character Carrey was subjected to what he referred to as torture.
"Literally, the make-up was like being buried alive every day," he shared in 2014 on "The Graham Norton Show." "The first day was eight and a half hours. And I went back in my trailer and put my leg through the wall." Luckily, producers stepped in and hired someone "trained to teach CIA operatives how to endure torture," as Carrey put it. The actor eventually pulled through, having been put in the Grinch make-up 100 times by the end of filming. "It was horrifying," he said. "[But] it's for the kids."
As an added difficulty, Carrey went straight onto the "Grinch" set after filming wrapped on "Man on the Moon," whose filming process left him with some residual method acting effects. Yet it was that same method acting that convinced Dr. Seuss's family that Carrey was right for the role. Carrey even invited Dr. Seuss's wife to the "Man on the Moon" set, where he was able to pull out his inner Grinch for her. "By the time I came to her with my idea, she said to me, 'I love it, and I want Jim Carrey to play the Grinch,'" director Ron Howard told Empire. "Which is what I wanted to hear because I probably wouldn't have done the movie with anyone else."
He has had some run-ins with co-stars and creatives
Someone with as big of a personality as Jim Carrey is bound to find others with personalities that don't gel. That was the case during the filming of 1995's "Batman Forever," in which Carrey starred as the quizzical villain, The Riddler. Carrey's co-star, Tommy Lee Jones, played the rough-riding baddie, Two-Face.
Jones was notoriously unimpressed with his sidekick's antics, both on and off set. One time, the two ran into each other at a restaurant. "I went over and I said, 'Hey Tommy, how are you doing?' and the blood just drained from his face," Carrey recalled on an episode of "Norm MacDonald Live." "And he got up shaking ... and he went to hug me and he said, 'I hate you. I really don't like you ... I cannot sanction your buffoonery.'"
Not all of Carrey's run-ins have ended badly, though. When he was set to promote "Kick-Ass 2," he suddenly dropped out of the press tour over concerns regarding the movie's violent scenes in the wake of the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting. But Mark Millar, the writer of the comic book the film is based on, thought the move ultimately benefited the film. "People keep saying to me, 'Are you pissed off at Jim Carrey?' No, I'm delighted with Jim Carrey, this is amazing," Millar told Digital Spy. "For your main actor to publicly say, 'This movie is too violent for me' is like saying, 'This porno has too much nudity. We'll have to go and see this now.'"
His high-profile romantic relationships fizzled
Jim Carrey had some high-profile relationships to match his abundant stardom. After he divorced his first wife, Melissa Womer, he began dating "Dumb and Dumber" co-star Lauren Holly and they eventually tied the knot in 1996. The couple spent a year of wedded bliss together before calling it quits in 1997. "At first, [the tabloid attention] was kind of fun," Holly revealed in a 2013 interview on "George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight." "And then, our whole life became about 'We have to keep them out," because they would do things like scale the fence at our house."
In 1999, Carrey dated and was engaged to another co-star, actor Renee Zellweger, whom he met on the set of "Me, Myself, and Irene." Though the couple only dated for about a year, Carrey still holds special memories of their relationship. He confirmed this on "The Howard Stern Show," saying, "She definitely was special to me. Very special. I think she's lovely."
Starting in 2005, Carrey and TV personality Jenny McCarthy were in a high-profile romance that eventually ended after five years. What made things messy was the way Carrey reportedly stopped contact with McCarthy's young son, Evan, with whom Carrey had bonded. "I will always do what I believe is in the best interest of Evan's well being," Carrey said in a statement to E! News in 2012. "It's unfortunate that Evan's privacy is not being considered. I love Evan very much and will miss him always."
He turned to art to overcome his heartbreak
After his break-up with Jenny McCarthy in 2010, Jim Carrey retreated from the spotlight and sought new artistic forms with which to express himself. He turned to painting, sculpture, and other visual art practices, even unveiling his own gallery exhibition in 2017. "Creativity just kind of choreographs the dance for me," he shared with W Magazine. "It sends me the scripts I need when the scripts I need to do are important, and when I'm not vibing with anything, it makes something else happen ... My journey was exploding and I needed to express it, and I needed to express every bit of it."
Carrey was the subject of a 2017 short documentary entitled "I Needed Color," which detailed his artistic process. He has continued to detail this process through in-person exhibitions across North America and other outlets, with some of his pieces even being sold through online galleries. He also showed his artistic talents as he came back into the spotlight, including painting live on stage when appearing on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in 2014.
"Making art in general is not really a choice," Carrey shared with W Magazine. "Even acting — all this stuff is the same thing to me. It's just different modes of creativity. I've always drawn and sketched and done cartoons, and I find myself doing that still — I'm still an 8-year-old in my room."
He was involved in some social media drama
Even stars like Jim Carrey aren't above a social media feud. The actor has had his fair share of online issues, many of which have received some form of backlash. In 2010, Carrey posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, his thoughts on Elin Nordegren, who had recently split with Tiger Woods at the time due to his reported infidelity. "No wife is blind enough to miss that much infidelity. Elin had 2 b a willing participant on the ride 4 whatever reason," the actor wrote in a since-deleted post (via Syracuse.com). Carrey eventually issued a coy statement about the post, tweeting (via NBCDFW), "My people called and said I might have to tame my tweets a little. So here goes ... I'm going to make a sandwich now. peanut butter.(sigh)."
Carrey was also caught in the frays of an online back-and-forth with Alessandra Mussolini, the granddaughter of the famed Italian fascist leader. The entertainer made comments about the infamous dictator online, to which Mussolini took offense. Carrey further escalated the feud by saying to Variety, "It's a little disconcerting that she's in government, not because she's in government, but because she's obviously still embracing evil."
The actor eventually left X in 2022, subtly citing the platform's takeover by Elon Musk as his reasoning. That was not the first time Carrey has publicly announced his farewell to a social media platform, as he encouraged people to delete their Facebook accounts in 2018.
He was sued by his late lover's family
Jim Carrey was in an on-and-off relationship with Irish make-up stylist Cathriona White from 2012 to 2015. White tragically took her own life in 2015, and authorities found a farewell note addressed to the actor upon investigation. However, Carrey served as a pallbearer at her funeral alongside her family.
In 2016, White's family filed a wrongful death suit against Carrey, who they claimed provided White with the medications that led to her suicide. Included in the suit was Mark Burton, White's estranged husband at the time, who also claimed that Carrey had given his then-girlfriend sexually transmitted diseases. The actor eventually counter-sued and refuted the claims, with the lawsuit stating (via USA Today) that White and her family had tried to "extort" him "with the false claim that Jim had given her Herpes I and Herpes II — unless Jim paid her millions of dollars."
The messy lawsuit was eventually dismissed in 2018. "The case and all claims against Jim Carrey have been dismissed," Carrey's representative said in a statement to ABC News. "He is extremely grateful to everyone in his life who supported him throughout this challenging episode."
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org