Jim Carrey has fired back after being sued Monday for the wrongful death of his late girlfriend Cathriona White, who died from a drug overdose last year.
“There are moments in life when you have to stand up and defend your honor against the evil in this world. I will not tolerate this heartless attempt to exploit me or the woman I loved,” the actor told TMZ in a statement. “Cat’s troubles were born long before I met her and sadly her tragic end was beyond anyone’s control. I really hope someday soon people will stop trying to profit from this and let her rest in peace.”
Carrey’s attorney Marty Singer told the outlet the lawsuit was nothing more than a “money-grab scheme.”
Original story below:
Jim Carrey was sued Monday for wrongful death by the family of his late girlfriend Cathriona White, with the woman’s estranged husband claiming the actor illegally obtained and provided the prescription medications that led to her death last year.
Mark Burton, White’s husband at the time of her death, filed suit against the 54-year-old actor in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, according to USA Today.
White reportedly committed suicide by overdosing on prescription pills including Ambien and Percocet and was found dead at her Sherman Oaks home on September 28. The Irish-born make-up artist, who was 30 years old at the time of her death, had dated Carrey on and off since 2012.
The lawsuit filed Monday accuses Carrey of obtaining his prescription medication “illegally and under a bogus name (Arthur King)” and of providing the drugs to White despite knowing she had been “prone to depression and had previously attempted to take her own life.”
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Burton is suing Carrey both for allegedly violating the Drug Dealer Liability Act and for wrongful death, and is seeking both punitive and statutory damages, though the amount was not immediately known.
Carrey has not yet commented publicly on the lawsuit.
The actor was last seen in this year’s dystopian cannibal love story The Bad Batch, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival this week.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum
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