Jim Carrey has been making audiences laugh since the 1990s when he landed his first TV gig in the sketch comedy series, In Living Color. That only lasted four years, but he finally broke into feature films the same year the TV show ended. His first big movie was Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, but he also starred in The Mask and Dumb and Dumber in the same year in 1994. All the way until 2014 he starred in several comedy films and established his name in Hollywood.
His success didn’t come easy though—the actor has had depression for a long time and had to take a break from acting for about six years to concentrate on his mental health. Last year he made a comeback and starred in Sonic the Hedgehog, but he’s still going through a lot and has been through so much in his life. Here are all of the dark things Jim Carrey has had to deal with in the past.
10 He Grew Up Afraid That His Parents Were Going To Die
Jim’s parents were both “heavy smokers” and his mom joked about her death a lot, so he constantly worried they were going to die when he was growing up. He told The Hollywood Reporter, "I remember being seven years old and my mother at the dinner table saying things like, 'My brain is deteriorating at an incredible rate!' or 'My angina's acting up; I could go at any time!' Things like that would just shake me to the core." Even though his mom was just joking, it scared him all the time and he had to grow up being afraid.
9 He Didn’t Really Have Any Friends As A Kid
Jim barely talked to anyone when he was a kid and had a hard time making friends. He spent most of his time in front of a mirror making faces at himself and goofing around. He told Interview Magazine, "Well, I spent most of my time in my room staring at a mirror. I never knew I was supposed to socialize.” That must be why he’s able to make anyone laugh with his hilarious facial expressions.
8 He Was Homeless For Awhile
When Jim Carrey was a teenager, his family was homeless and they had to live in a van for awhile. In one of his comedy skits, he said, "A lot of people don't know this, but when I was about 14 or 15, my father lost his job and I actually became homeless for quite some time, but of course, I grew up in Canada and I thought we'd gone camping.” He turned that hard time into a successful career and now has a net worth of about $180 million.
7 People Threw Chairs At Him When He First Started Doing Comedy
Before anyone knew who he was, Jim performed stand-up comedy in L.A., but his set at the Comedy Store was one of the worst times of his career. He told The Hollywood Reporter, "I finally got offstage to huge applause just because I mentioned I was going to leave the stage. Then I crawled through the audience on my hands and knees, popped up behind the piano and started banging on the keys, singing, 'I hate you all, you gave me cancer.' I got in the car and I cried all the way home. Because I don't want to make people unhappy." If he had given up that day, we would’ve never seen all of the amazing characters he’s played.
6 He’s Had A Hard Time With Relationships
Jim has had multiple relationships over the years and most of them don’t last more than a couple years if that. He’s been married twice, engaged three times, and has had several relationships. A source close to Jim Carrey told People he’s “a hard guy to date” and said, "Jim can run hot and he can run cold. He is someone who desperately needs to be with someone, then just as desperately needs to be alone. But at the same time, he can be a very loving, very compassionate guy." He’s experienced so much heartbreak, but the one good thing is that he got his daughter, Jane, out of it. He had her with his first wife.
5 He’s Battled Depression
Jim describes himself as a “weird, serious person,” but most people only see him being his funny, goofy self. Nobody sees his struggle with depression. According to Nicki Swift, “His ‘serious’ personality isn't one the public gets to see often, and it could be attributed to the actor's struggle with depression. He revealed that it took him some time, but he was able to get to a point where he was ‘sometimes happy.’"
4 He Lost Himself While Method Acting
Jim first tried method acting when he played the late comedian, Andy Kaufman, in Man on the Moon. Rotten Tomatoes described his performance as "eerily dead-on" and Jim realized he had the ability to completely lose himself in characters. He told The Talks, "If I can put Jim Carrey aside for four months, who is Jim Carrey? Who the h*ll is that?" He’s already been through a lot, but this added to his depression even more.
3 His Ex-Girlfriend’s Family Tried To Blame Him (And Sue Him) For Her Death
Jim dated makeup artist Cathriona White on and off since 2012, but she died by suicide after they had already broken up. He was heartbroken when he heard about it and then her family made things worse by blaming him for her death. According to Nicki Swift, “White tragically took her own life in September 2015 by overdosing on prescription drugs, and Carrey was a pallbearer at her funeral. The following year, White's estranged husband, Mark Burton, and her mother, Brigid Sweetman, sued the actor for wrongful death, claiming Carrey had infected White with ‘three STDs without warning her’ and had supplied her with the painkillers that she used to commit suicide.” The legal battle lasted for years, but was finally dismissed in January 2018.
2 He Hasn’t Truly Found Happiness Yet
Although he doesn’t struggle with finances anymore, Jim has admitted he still hasn’t found happiness yet. He told The Talks, "I guess just getting to the place where you have everything everybody has ever desired and realizing you are still unhappy." He hated that the corporations controlled everything. That’s why he hasn’t starred in that many movies the past few years—he wanted to concentrate on himself and his well being.
1 His Struggles Have Helped Him Become Successful
Jim Carrey has definitely been through a lot in his life, but all of those struggles helped make him the successful actor he is today. He told CBS, “I don’t think human beings learn anything without desperation. Desperation is a necessary ingredient to learning anything, or creating anything. Period. If you ain’t desperate at some point, you ain’t interesting.” He might not have found true happiness yet, but hopefully one day he finds it and everything else in his life turns out to be as successful as his acting career.