The estranged husband of Jim Carrey's late girlfriend filed a lawsuit against the actor on Monday, accusing him of wrongfully providing the drugs that led to her death.
The estranged husband of Jim Carrey’s late girlfriend filed a lawsuit against the actor on Monday, accusing him of wrongfully providing the drugs that led to her death.
Cathriona White, 30, was found dead in her home on Sept. 28, 2015 following a drug overdose. A toxicology report found four prescription drugs in her system: a mix of painkillers, beta blockers and a sleep aid. Her death was officially ruled a suicide by the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office in July of this year.
It was revealed shortly after her death that despite White and Carrey dating on and off for three years, she was actually married to another man, Mark Burton, at the time of her death. According to records in Clark County, Nevada, White and Burton married on Jan. 14, 2013 at the Heavenly Bliss Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas.
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“This is a case about Jim Carrey using his immense wealth and celebrity status to illegally obtain and distribute highly addictive and, in this case deadly, controlled substances,” the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit goes on to claim that Carrey obtained drugs illegally under the false name of “Arthur King” and provided them to White.
“Mr. Carrey did so despite the fact that he knew full well that Ms. White was ill equipped to ingest and manage highly additive prescription drugs outside the care of a licensed physician; was prone to depression; and had previously attempted to take her own life,” the lawsuit alleges.
According to the autopsy report obtained by ET, three of the prescriptions found at White’s residence were prescribed under the name "Arthur King." The coroner also reported finding a text on White's phone from Carrey the night before she died, asking if she knew where certain painkillers prescribed to him went.
The lawsuit alleges Carrey was attempting to “cover-up his conduct and complicity in her death” by sending the text message.
The suit claims that Carrey was “pretending as though he had misplaced the drugs and insinuating White may have taken them from Carrey without his knowledge, when in reality Carrey knew full well that he had voluntarily and illegally provided” them to White just days prior.
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The court documents also allege that Carrey had an “obsession with controlling and manipulating White” and “had the ability to monitor surveillance cameras on a home White often stayed at.”
The lawsuit claims that Carrey’s assistant remotely checked the surveillance cameras and had determined White had not left the residence in over a day at the time surrounding her death, yet neither Carrey nor his assistant alerted authorities, according to the lawsuit.
The documents pose the question: “If Carrey legitimately believed White had taken the drugs from him and she had subsequently gone missing for days with no contact, then why would Carrey not immediately request law enforcement to check on her well-being after she did not return his text?”
In addition to seeking recovery for economic and emotional damages, Burton’s attorney, Michael Avenatti, tells ET they are also looking for criminal action to be taken.
“We will be calling for the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office to investigate Mr. Carrey’s role in connection with the death of Cathriona White,” Avenatti says.
At this time, Carrey’s rep had no statement to provide in response to the lawsuit.
"She was a truly kind and delicate Irish flower, too sensitive for this soil, to whom loving and being loved was all that sparkled," Carrey told ET in a statement shortly after White's death. "My heart goes out to her family and friends and to everyone who loved and cared about her."