Funnyman Jim Carrey's ex-wife asks for more cash for child support
US actor Jim Carrey
LOS ANGELES (AFP) Funnyman Jim Carrey's ex-wife has asked a judge to order the star to cough up more cash to give the couple's 15-year-old daughter to maintain the movie-star trappings to which she has become accustomed.
Melissa Carrey, whose divorce from the comedian and actor became final in 1995, told a Los Angeles judge that the 10,000 dollars a month that her ex-husband agreed to pay in child support was no longer enough.
According to usually confidential court documents posted on the website www.thesmokinggun.com, her daughter's needs have increased with her age and that she wanted to build her a Pilates exercise room and a music studio at home.
Carrey claimed in the request to modify her divorce settlement that she needed extra money to provide her daughter Jane with a "lifestyle that is commensurate with the lifestyle she has when she is with her famous dad".
The documents revealed fascinating details of the jet-setting lifetsyle of one of Hollywood's top movie stars.
The mother claimed in the documents, which are usually confidential, that Carrey, 41, had an "extraordinarily high" income that bought him a 25 million dollar jet and two luxury homes filled with all the mod cons.
One, in the exclusive Los Angeles suburb of Brentwood, which he bought for 4.5 million dollars in 1994 boasts a "state of the art home theatre," a tennis court, a five-car garage and is "adorned with very expensive works of art."
The ex-wife cited press reports that said Carrey later bought the property next door to expand the estate as well as a coastal home in Malibu for which he paid 9.5 million dollars.
The star of films such as "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective," "Liar Liar" "Dumb and Dumber" also has five cars, including three Mercedes Benz, frequently uses limousines and was whisked off to work each day by helicopter when he made a recent film, Melissa said.
In addition he took often with Jane exotic holidays in the Caribbean, Hawaii, Russia, Fiji and Africa where he rented yachts and luxury estates.
He also employs a driver, a masseuse, a personal trainer and bodyguards as well as three assistants, acting coaches and writers, but she and her daughter lived in far more humble circumstances with "minimal security."
She and Jane share a "modest" home in Hollywood, that she can only afford to give her daughter an allowance of 40 dollars a week, according the documents.
"We do not have a swimming pool, tennis court or gym," the affidavit said adding that the child was forced to take tennis lessons and private classes at local clubs.
Melissa wants to build the girl a Pilates area and a music practice studio that would cost around 200,000 dollars as well as buy her a car when she turns 16 in September.
Carrey's ex-wife also claimed that the Canadian-born star spent "less than 10 percent of the year" with their daughter, lthough the divorce agreement called for him to have custody on alternate weekends and some Tuesdays.
According to the filing, the actor "constantly cancels" visits with Jane, "sometimes without letting her know."