Jim Carrey is firing back at the family of his deceased ex-girlfriend Cathriona White.
“The Mask” star Carrey has filed a cross-complaint, claiming that a lawsuit alleging that he was responsible for White’s death is just the latest in a number of extortion attempts against him.
Carrey is being sued by White’s estranged husband Mark Burton and mother Brigid Sweetman. The wrongful death lawsuit, initially filed in September 2016, alleges that Carrey illegally obtained “highly addictive and, in this case deadly” drugs under the name Arthur King, then gave them to White, subsequently causing her death in September 2015.
A subsequent amended complaint alleged that Carrey gave White herpes without informing her that he had the disease. When White confronted Carrey about it, the complaint says, the actor “manipulated her, shamed her, exploited her, threatened her, and used his handlers and attorneys to silence her.”
But in the cross-complaint filed Friday, Carrey takes aim at Burton, Sweetman, White’s attorney Filippo Marchino and Marchino’s firm The X-Law Group, saying that he’s been targeted by them in an ongoing extortion campaign.
In the new papers, Carrey says that he had previously succumbed to the extortion efforts.
According to the actor’s filing, between March and August 2013, White, with Marchino’s help, made threats to “go to the press” with knowingly false claims that Carrey had infected White with sexually transmitted diseases unless the actor paid her “millions of dollars. ”
“In this case, Cross-Defendant Filippo Marchino took what started as a warm and
exciting romance between Jim Carrey and Cat White, a beautiful yet immature and emotionally damaged woman, and turned it into an act of extortion, coercion, and theft,” the cross-complaint reads. “Rather than engage in a protracted and expensive public battle, Jim, as many in his position do, succumbed to the demands and privately resolved the issue with Cat and her lawyer.”
In the new filing, Carey says, “as many in his position do, succumbed to the demands and privately resolved the issue.”
After White’s suicide, the cross-complaint says, the defendants tried to shake Carrey down a second time with the lawsuit filed against him.
“In the heartache and grief that followed her tragic loss, Cross-Defendants Filippo Marchino, The X-Law Group, Mark Burton, and Brigid Sweetman filed the underlying complaint hoping to profit a second time from the same false and fraudulent claims made and resolved two years earlier,” Carrey’s filing reads.
“Today I filed a cross-complaint against Filippo Marchino, The X-Law Group, Mark Burton and Brigid Sweetman. Unfortunately, I made the mistake three years ago of giving in and settling false claims made against me by Mr. Marchino, on behalf of Cat, as mounting a public defense is a very costly and painful process. At the time I felt Cat was being exploited by Marchino,” Carrey said in a statement provided to TheWrap on Friday. “Since this new case was filed, I have discovered the depth of deception behind those false claims, the kind of deception decent people fall for, because to us, such behavior is unimaginable. I will not give in a second time 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.”
In a statement to TheWrap, Michael Avenatti, attorney for Burton and Sweetman, called Carrey “incoherent and unhinged.”
“Jim Carrey is so desperate to avoid the public knowing the truth about his own outrageous conduct, that he has now resorted to outlandish accusations against innocent people,” Avenatti said. “As his red carpet interview from a few weeks ago shows, the guy is incoherent and unhinged. He needs help.”
Carrey is seeking unspecified damages in his cross-complaint.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.