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“It would be easy for me to get in a back room with this man’s lawyer and make this go away, but there are some moments in life when you have to stand up and defend your honour against the evil in this world,” Carrey said in a statement.

Shortly after White’s death, reports emerged that White was still married but had been estranged from her husband.

Burton attorney Michael Avenatti told The Washington Post that White and Burton had been married since January 2013, but the lawyer declined to comment on the nature of their relationship at the time of her death “because it distracts from what this case is really about, which is Mr. Carrey’s conduct.”

The lawsuit alleges Carrey violated California’s Drug Dealer Liability Act, which allows people to file civil lawsuits against suppliers for harm caused by illegal drug use, and seeks unspecified damages. An autopsy showed White “had taken her own life by overdosing on a lethal amount of prescription drugs,” including Ambien, Propranolol and Percocet, all of which Carrey got using the alias “Arthur King,” according to the lawsuit.

Shortly after White’s death, Carrey said in a statement that he was “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.”

The actor attended White’s funeral, and a photo published by People shows him helping to carry her casket.