Jim Carrey tells why he won't marry his girlfriend Jenny McCarthy

Jim Carrey tells why he won't marry his girlfriend Jenny McCarthy
Dec 22 2008 By Siobhan Synnot

JOKER Jim Carrey has ruled out marriage to former Playboy pin-up girlfriend Jenny McCarthy - because he's convinced their love would be jinxed if they sealed it with a wedding.

In an effort to end speculation about where the romance is going, funnyman Jim has admitted he and Jenny are living together, but he's adamant they are steering clear of wedding bells.

"I'm happy with Jenny, although I probably won't get married again," says the Truman Show star, who has already been down the aisle on two occasions.

"If you've done it twice, you really should stop."

The 46-year-old superstar and Jenny, 37, were not an obvious love match. Twice divorced and the dad of 20-year-old Jane, a rising singer, Jim is one of the highest paid Hollywood comedy talents.

But he's also a complicated character, who loves reading books on spiritualism and self-help and takes these subjects very seriously.

Jenny replaced the late Anna Nicole Smith as Playboy's Playmate of the Year in 1994, then became a presenter on MTV and starred in a string of broad comedies such as Scary Movie. You don't often think of her as a serious gal.

However, the couple have been together since December 2005 - and Jim couldn't be happier.

"I feel we met at a time when I was more ready than I have ever been in my life to have a relationship. We encourage each other. We're both on the same path," he says.

The lanky star credits his girlfriend with making him look at life in a new light, but feared the relationship was over when Jenny stayed away from him to take care of her autistic son Evan, five, from her marriage to actor-director John Asher.

Evan was diagnosed autistic in 2005, about six months before Jenny and Jim got together, and she has since written a book about her experiences.

At that point, Jim didn't know his girlfriend was struggling to balance their relationship with taking care of her son.

He said: "She kind of disappeared from my life for a little while then called me and said 'Here's the deal'."

They have managed to work out their problems and now can't imagine life without each other. Jim has also bonded with Evan over games and a love of Star Wars.

On a lighter side, Jim is the star of a new comedy Yes Man, about a man who gambles with fate by deciding to answer "yes" to every question, no matter what it is.

He believes that, for all the moments of madcap hilarity, he's essentially delivering a feelgood movie for troubled times.

Yes Man is loosely based on a book by Castaway presenter Danny Wallace, and one reason why Jim was attracted to the story is because he reckons he's learned to say yes to life himself.

But he warns maybe you should also say no at times.

The actor's daftest "yes" decision was to join the sea cadets when he was growing up - but even that had a positive effect of sorts.

He said: "I was 11 and joined the sea cadets, which are like a military version of boy scouts, and they shave your head, humiliate you, yell at you and parade you around in front of the rest of the people you know in town.

"And you parade around with this uniform on. But you know what? If I hadn't done that, I wouldn't know I'm a useless maggot. So I'm glad. 'Yes' always leads to something good."

The star admits that after his divorce from second wife, actress Lauren Holly, his first instinct was to say no to socialising. He was broken-hearted and shunned nights out with pals.

But now Jim is so keen to spread a positive message. He says he'd like to help the rest of us by setting up his own self-help meetings.

And he has taken the message of saying yes to heart - so when he spotted ascene in Yes Man where his character does a bungee jump, he immediately wanted to do it himself.

"The director tried to talk me out of it," reveals Jim. In fact, his bosses begged him to use a stunt double, but the funnyman insisted this was something hewanted to do.

"This is what the movie is about - saying yes to life, taking chances," he adds.

Eventually, he was told he could go ahead - provided he did it on the last day of filming.

It wasn't his only brush with danger during the making of the movie. Early on, he broke three ribs doing a pratfall that went wrong.

"I've done pratfalls my whole life, I know how to do them. But suddenly I decided it would be a good idea to get all four limbs up in the air at the same time. Icame down really hard," he winces.

Even so, Jim got up, finished the shoot and strapped an icepack to his chest so he could see the finished scene before going for proper medical attention.

"All I really cared about was, 'Did it look cool?'" he admits.

The broken bones were worth it in the end - the shot made it into the final film.

Jim has come a long way since his early years growing up in desperate poverty near Toronto.

His father originally played sax with a big band, but had to sell his instrument to pay the hospital bills when Jim's older sister was born. Jim describes his dad as akind, mild man who slogged away as an accountant to support his family. But when Jim was 13, his father lost his job.

"It really broke his heart," recalls the actor. "It was hard to watch."

Jim was always the family clown, keen to make people laugh. When first-time visitors entered the family home, they routinely were greeted by the spectacle of the youngest boy flinging himself down a flight of stairs.

As they were recovering from the shock, the youngster would jump to his feet, take a quick bow, then throw himself down the stairs again.

The story not only offers a glimpse into the early development of a comedy icon, but reveals a lot about how focused he was on a showbusiness career from a young age.

"It was all I ever thought about," he says. "I never really considered doing anything else, except for maybe a week when I wanted to be a vet."

His proudest moment as a struggling actor was making Clint Eastwood's day when the movie legend cracked up after seeing a tape of a young Jim trying for a part in his film The Dead Pool.

"I auditioned for Clint in a room. He wasn't there, they would send the tapes up to his home in Carmel for him to see," explains Jim.

For The Man With No Name, Jim did agoofy Elvis-style dance.

"And Clint just absolutely went out of his mind over this thing," marvels Jim.

"He told me, 'I show it everyone who comes into my house. It really breaks the ice!' "We have been friends ever since.

He just liked that I was so out there."

Yes Man is in cinemas on Boxing Day.

'I'm happy with Jenny but probably won't marry again. After doing it twice you should stop'