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The 'forged document' that saw the wrongful death lawsuit against Jim Carrey unravel.

On September 28, 2015, 30-year-old makeup artist Cathriona White was found dead in her home in Sherman Oaks, California, with a fatal cocktail of prescription drugs in her system.

While the Los Angeles County coroner ruled that the Irish-born woman had died by suicide, White’s family pointed the finger at her boyfriend, a man who had been a pallbearer at her funeral – Hollywood actor, Jim Carrey.

In their wrongful death lawsuit, White's husband, Mark Burton, and her mother, Brigid Sweetman, claimed it was Carrey who supplied their beloved Cathriona with the Ambien, Propranolol and Percocet (oxycodone) she used to take her own life, despite knowing her history of depression.

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They also claimed Carrey had given her three sexually transmitted infections, "without warning her".

It was reportedly that allegation that, this week, brought their wrongful-death suit undone.

Carrey's attorney, Raymond Boucher, told USA TODAY the case against the 56-year-old Canadian had been voluntarily dismissed by the plaintiffs, meaning the actor won't have to face trial.

According to the outlet, Boucher had recently asked the court to compel Burton to provide results of an STI test White had taken in 2011, the year before she began an on-again-off-again relationship with Carrey that lasted up until her death. Through discovery, Boucher came to the conclusion that the document, which showed a negative result, had been forged.

Boucher submitted that, "The only record produced and relied upon according to the discovery responses are the records of a third party that had been substantially altered, and are not the records of Ms. White."

Jim Carrey carries Cathriona's coffin. Image: Getty.
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When Burton filed the suit in 2016, Carrey issued a statement describing his claims as "a heartless attempt" to exploit him and the woman he 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,” the statement read.

Carrey then countersued, claiming White tried to "extort" him after their 2013 breakup by threatening to go to the media "with the false claim that Jim had given her Herpes I and Herpes II" unless he "paid her millions of dollars." The comedy star said he agreed to supply her a reduced sum of money and property in order to avoid mounting a public defence - "a very costly and painful process."

Despite the dispute, the couple reunited in 2015, and had planned to move in together.

After news broke of White's death, Carrey described his partner as "a truly kind and delicate Irish flower, too sensitive for this soil, to whom loving and being loved was all that sparkled."

For the feminist take on this week's news, listen to the latest episode of Mamamia Out Loud.

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