Jim Carrey Sued For Wrongful Death In Cathriona White Suicide

Jim Carrey is being sued for the wrongful death of his late girlfriend, Cathriona White, by her estranged husband, Mark Burton, who’s accusing the comedic actor of causing her suicide. The lawsuit was filed Monday in California Superior Court in Los Angeles.

As Gossip Cop reported, White killed herself with an intentional drug overdose in September 2015. The 30-year-old makeup artist and Carrey had dated on and off for several years. As we also noted, White’s suicide note was uncovered in July. In a shocking new lawsuit, Burton claims Carrey provided White with the prescription drugs that killed her. His suit says the actor obtained Ambien, Propranolol and Percocet using the fake name “Arthur King” and then allegedly gave his then-girlfriend the substances, despite knowing she was prone to depression and had suicidal tendencies.

“This is a case about Jim Carrey using his immense wealth and celebrity status to illegally obtain and distribute highly addictive and, in this case, deadly, controlled substances, ” the suit says. In his filing, Burton further says White was “ill equipped to ingest and manage highly addictive prescription drugs outside the care of a licensed physician.” Gossip Cop has reached out to a rep for Carrey, but we have yet to hear back.

UPDATE: On Monday night, Carrey released a statement saying, “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 honor against the evil in this world. I will not tolerate this heartless attempt to exploit me or the woman I loved. Cat’s troubles were born long before I met her and sadly her tragic end was beyond anyone’s control. I really hope that some day soon people will stop trying to profit from this and let her rest in peace.”

In his own statement, Carrey’s attorney Marty Singer says, “The lawsuit against Jim Carrey is an outlandish shakedown. The Coroner’s Report unequivocally concluded after a complete investigation that Cathriona White committed suicide. The definitive conclusion of the Medical Examiner was that the ‘Manner of death is suicide.’ The Coroner’s Report also referenced Ms. White’s prior suicide attempt years earlier. Ms. White’s suicide is a tragedy that is being exploited in a completely meritless lawsuit in pursuit of a payday.”

“Ms. White was not a US citizen and she faced the return to Ireland when she and Burton married, but during that ‘marriage’ she lived in California while he lived on Oregon and Utah. It is despicable that Burton, who claims to have been Ms. White’s husband but never lived with her and did not even reside in the same state she did, now comes forward trying to cash in on her death. We are confident that the Court will see through this abhorrent money-grab scheme,” says the lawyer.

He goes on, “Jim never supplied his prescription medications to Ms. White. Ms. White stole his prescription medications from him. Significantly, my client’s prescriptions were legally obtained medications that were prescribed to him by his doctor in accordance with routine practices that are used all the time, and which are regularly used by SAG members and others with the knowledge of their doctors and insurers, to protect the privacy of well-known individuals.”

“Also, contrary to inaccurate media reports, Jim had not publicly offered to pay the funeral expenses, so the lawsuit’s attempt to paint him as reneging on doing so is absurd and unjustified. Meanwhile, Ms. White’s ‘husband’ Mark Burton never publicly offered to pay for the funeral,” says Singer, concluding, “My client will vigorously fight this outrageous, opportunistic lawsuit and he will be completely vindicated in Court.”

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