10 Famous Comedians With Dark Sides You Didn’t Know About
10. Jim Carrey
One does not simply walk into Hollywood; and Jim Carrey started life cleaning red carpets rather than walking down them. His father lost his job when Carrey was 12 years old - a massive kick in the guts for the family - who then had to move into a van on a relatives lawn. The poverty-stricken Carreys all took jobs working as security guards and janitors at a nearby factory... which meant Jim worked an eight-hour shift straight after school.
Prematurely leaving high school to work full time as a janitor, Carrey was great financial support for the family, and helped care for his mother who battled serious chronic illness. During an interview with James Lipton he discussed his underprivileged childhood in Canada, saying:
When he lost his job that's when everything fell apart. We went from "lower middle class" to "poor". We were living out of a van. I quit school at age 15 to begin working to help support my family as a janitor. I'd have a baseball bat on my janitor cart because I was so angry I just wanted to beat the heck out of something.
If his career in show business hadnt taken off, Carrey said he would still be working at the steel mill in Ontario; and that would be a darn shame, because before him, we'd never seen an actor talk through his ass. Not dissimilar from many comedians, Jim Carrey is another who has battled depression. He stated that he no longer needs or takes Prozac, or medications/stimulants of any kind for that matter not even coffee!
Jim's Best Lines
"One thing I hope I'll never be is drunk with my own power. And anybody who says I am will never work in this town again."
"Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes."
"Maybe there is no actual place called hell. Maybe hell is just having to listen to our grandparents breathe through their noses when they're eating sandwiches."