"I remember locking myself in the bathroom and crying because I thought they were going to die."
Now that doesn't sound like the optimistic Jim Carrey we all know and love. In truth, behind the scenes, he went through his fair share of struggles, including a battle with depression and as it turns out a very tough childhood.
Jim had a great relationship with his parents, though both his mom and dad struggled, his mother with health issues while his dad struggled to give his kids the best life possible, despite flipping jobs.
We'll take a look at how it all affected Jim's childhood, Carrey lashed out during his younger years, turning to anger and frustration.
Though despite all the setbacks, he was able to make it, forging quite the career for himself.
His Parents Struggled In Their Own Ways
Jim Carrey used comedy as an outlet, as a way to uplift his parents during the tough times. As the legendary actor revealed with The Hollywood Reporter, his mother was very depressed and went through various health issues.
“My mother wasn’t feeling well most of the time. My mom was addicted to pain medication. She was very sick in a lot of ways. She was lovely, too, but she was a child of alcoholics and she had issues."
"And that’s not intentional abandonment — she was always there for me, she was always there in the house — but if you’re high on painkillers, that’s abandonment. I guess we’re all abandoned to a certain extent, all of us in some way or another by something or someone, and that forms in us our belief about ourselves.”
His relationship alongside his dad was a little different, Carrey admired his father, especially the way that he could make a room shine, everyone looked up to him.
Though just like his mom, Jim's dad would fall on some hard times. He gave up his dream as a sax player, taking a stable job as an accountant. However, once he lost his job, Carrey's dad went through some hard times and as it turns out, it caused Jim to rebel in his personal life.
Turning Into A Rebel & Dropping Out Of School
Carrey's father's struggles impacted him in a major way. Suddenly, he was mad at the world and constantly looking for fights.
“I was angry,” he says. “My father was hurting, so I blamed the world. It doesn’t occur to you when you’re a kid, ‘Hey, maybe my dad was a drag at work. Maybe he hated his job so much that he was just an emotional skunk.'”
At school, things weren't going any better. Jim's grades took a big-time slip and during his teens, he was already having thoughts of dropping out. He wanted to pursue an acting career, kicking things off in the world of stand-up comedy. Carrey had already started envisioning himself at the top of the mountain, even when he was completely broke and with very little to his name.
We can safely say that despite all the struggle, Carrey made it. But again, it wasn't without the struggle and doubt from his peers around him.
It All Worked Out
Siskel and Ebert were not too fond of Carrey's first major film, 'Ace Ventura'. Despite the negative reviews, Jim's film soared at the box office, and now suddenly, he was commanding a different wage for the following film, 'The Mask'.
Along with 'Dumb & Dumber', Carrey soared to the top of Hollywood, and suddenly, his vision became a reality.
However, a different struggle took shape at home, this time for his daughter. Jim states that dealing with dad's fame wasn't easy for his kids, especially early on.
"She wrote in her diary when she was in, like, first grade, ‘I know that the big kids want to hang out with me because of my dad,'” he reveals. “And when I used to go pick her up at school, the whole schoolyard would empty out around me because I was all of their favorite characters. I think about that and how it must have been a terribly difficult thing for her to find her own self in that — to be defined by her dad like that.”
Not to worry, Carrey's daughter grew up to be a fine young lady, chasing her dreams and working as a musician.
As for Jim, we can safely say that he gained strength from his childhood and it would lead to great success in his later years.