Jim Carrey countersues ex’s family after her suicide: ‘I will not give in’ to wrongful death claims

Facing a lawsuit for wrongful death by his late girlfriend’s estranged husband and her mother, actor Jim Carrey has countersued both, claiming they tried to coerce him into settling the case to avoid public embarrassment.

“A cottage industry that both feeds upon and exploits the public vulnerability of those who have achieved Hollywood notoriety is firmly planted,” the countersuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, states. “Hollywood stars are caught in the Hobson’s choice of publicly fighting these false claims or confidentially settling the potential litigation for millions of dollars in order to save them from public embarrassment, ridicule, and pile-on litigation.”

In their consolidated lawsuit, Mark Burton and Brigid Sweetman allege that Carrey used a false name to obtain the drugs that 30-year-old Cathriona White used to kill herself in September 2015 and that he provided them to her despite knowing she was prone to depression and previously had attempted suicide.

The pair also claim that Carrey exposed White to sexually transmitted diseases without warning her.

The actor’s countersuit states that White’s suicide was her own doing.

“Cat decided to end her life,” Carrey’s suit claims. “She committed suicide by taking a cocktail of pills, some her own, others secretly taken by her from Jim’s home.”

In the three years before her death, White had previously contemplated suicide, the suit states. “Many of the suicide notes she wrote over the years had a common theme, ‘I am not for this world.’ ”

White told friends that she hated her mother and had been estranged from her for years, the countersuit says.

“In fact, other than seeing Ms. Sweetman at her sister’s wedding, Cat had no relationship with Ms. Sweetman during her adult life.”

Carrey is seeking unspecified damages. He released the following statement:

“I will not give in ... to these same fraudulent charges initiated by Cat’s husband in name but not substance Mark Burton, and her estranged mother. Nor am I responsible for what these desperate characters have inadvertently unearthed about the woman I adored. I was clearly blinded by my affection. Regardless, I will hold a place of empathy, and forgiveness for Cat and continue to focus on the many blessings in this life.”