Jim Carrey is expected to face a trial over the suicide of his former girlfriend Cathriona White.

Irish-born make-up artist White, 30, was found dead in September 2015 after overdosing on prescription drugs. Carrey and White began dating in 2012 after meeting on a film set. Though the couple split in late 2013, it is understood that they reunited earlier in 2015 before parting ways again shortly before White’s passing.

The Press Association now reports that White’s mother, Brigid Sweetman, and estranged husband, Mark Burton, are both suing the 55-year-old actor in wrongful death suits, claiming that he provided White with the prescription drugs that she overdosed on. Sweetman also alleges that Carrey gave her daughter sexually transmitted diseases and pressured her into silence shortly before her death.


A judge at Los Angeles Superior Court ruled on Wednesday (May 31) that the case would go to trial, which is expected to last 20 days. Carrey’s lawyer had asked the judge to throw the case out of court, arguing that his client would find the trial “very painful”.

Carrey denies the “malicious” and “predatory” allegations.

Responding to the initial news of White’s passing, Carrey said last year: “I am shocked and deeply saddened by the passing of my sweet Cathriona. She was a truly kind and delicate Irish flower, too sensitive for this soil, to whom loving and being loved was all that sparkled.”

“My heart goes out to her family and friends and to everyone who loved and cared about her,” he added. “We have all been hit with a lightning bolt.”

White posted a final post to Twitter before her death. It read: “Signing off Twitter, I hope I have been a light to my nearest and dearest.”


You can contact Samaritans in the UK by calling 116 123 or visiting the Samaritans website.