14 DAY TRIAL // Cathriona White, the 28-year-old makeup artist who dated Jim Carrey on and off, and who took her own life this week, presumably after the actor ended the relationship, was a Scientologist, it has emerged.
Though there is no connection established for the time being between her death and the controversial Church of Scientology, this discovery won’t do the Church any favors, especially since White’s family in Ireland had no idea about it.
White moved to LA to become a Scientologist
Ex-Scientologist and whistleblower Tony Ortega tells People Magazine that White first became interested in the teachings of the Church after she met singer Beck some years ago.
She decided to move to Los Angeles so she could study more and eventually become a Scientologist herself, and she had attended classes at the controversial Hollywood Celebrity Center in LA for many months before she died.
She had completed Purification Rundown and was taking the Survival Rundown course, which, according to Ortega, can take hundreds of hours to finish. “She had stalled on it in the last six months,” Ortega reveals, adding that this could mean she was either having problems or wanted to take a breather.
Ortega also doubts that White’s Catholic family back in Ireland knew that she was getting mixed with Scientology. The Daily Mail has spoken to the family’s pastor, who confirms they had no idea about it. He also says that White was in the US illegally, so she would come home very rarely for fear she might get caught and banned from returning to the US.
The police investigation is underway
In a statement to the same media outlet, the Church of Scientology fights back against Ortega’s innuendo that it might have been involved in or responsible for White’s death.
“Saying that somebody was studying Scientology in the past and connecting that to a suicide is like saying a person who had previously studied the Bible committed suicide,” the Church says. “It is sad and reprehensible that a paid anti-Scientologist like Tony Ortega is exploiting this terrible tragedy involving a young woman: it's a sign of outright bigotry.”
A police investigation is now underway to determine the cause of death, but reports in the media say that it was most likely a drug overdose. Pills were found near the body, as well as a note that was supposedly addressed to Carrey, who had broken up with her for the second time on September 24.
On that same day, White announced on Twitter that she was “signing off,” but no one made much of the post at the time.