Jim Carey's ex-girlfriend Cathriona White's family pay tribute to her

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Police discovered Cathriona White's body when they were called to her home in Los Angeles on Monday night
Two friends of the Irish make-up artist reportedly first found the body when they went to check up on her at the $1.1million home
White is thought to have left behind a letter, saying she had broken up with comedian Jim Carrey, 53, for a second time last Thursday
Today, her family in Ireland released a statement describing her as 'our shining light'
Her sister and stepmother have flown to the US to bring her body home where she will be buried alongside her father
Cathriona died two days after the anniversary of her father's death

By Ashley Collman and Grant Hodgson In Los Angeles For Dailymail.com and James Hore and David Raleigh In Cappawhite, Ireland For Mailonline

Published: 01:33 EST, 30 September 2015 | Updated: 23:33 EST, 30 September 2015

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The family of Jim Carrey's ex-girlfriend Cathriona White have paid tribute to their 'shining light' as they prepare to bring her body to Ireland to be buried next to her father.

The make-up artist was found dead on Monday at her $1.1million Los Angeles home - just four days after breaking up with the comedian for a second time.

Today, Miss White's family in Ireland, where she was originally from, released a statement saying that she was loved deeply.

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Cathriona White and Jim Carrey on May 18 this year in New York - just four months before Cathriona's death

Cathriona (second right) at her sister Lisa's wedding last year, with their mother Brigid and brother James

Cathriona left this message on her Twitter account on September 24 - the same day she broke up with Carrey

They told the Independent.ie: 'The family of Cathriona White sincerely regret the untimely passing of their beloved daughter and sister.

'Cathriona was a shining light in our lives who was loved deeply by her entire family.

'We will miss her terribly and at this difficult time we ask to be left in private to mourn our loss.

The 28-year-old allegedly left behind a suicide note and Los Angeles chief coroner Ed Winter said a drug overdose was suspected as pills were found near her body.

Just days before her death, she wrote on Twitter: 'Signing off Twitter, I hope I have been a light to my nearest and dearest.'

The death is believed to be a suicide but an official ruling has not yet been made.

The family statement comes as Miss White's body is due to be flown from the US to her native County Tipperary to be buried alongside her beloved father Pat.

He had battled cancer for nearly 20 years but succumbed to the disease on September 26, 2012.

At his graveside, which is nestled beneath the brooding hills overlooking Cappawhite Cemetery, there are potted flowers, candles, and poetic tributes signed by Cathriona and her siblings.

Miss White's body will be flown home to Cappawhite in Ireland and she will be buried alongside her beloved father Pat, who died in 2012

It is unknown if Mr Carey will attend the funeral and burial ceremony which will take place in the picturesque village

'Dad, deep in our hearts, you'll always stay. Loved and missed everyday,' read one tribute from Cathriona and her sisters and brother.

Pat White's second wife Bríd, brought up Catriona and her sister Lisa and brother James, after Pat's first wife, and Cathriona's mother, Brigid, left Cappawhite for England.

In a loving tribute at his grave, Bríd wrote: 'There is always a face before me, a voice I would love to hear, a smile I will always remember, of a husband I loved so dear.'

The tribute continued: 'Deep in my heart lies a picture, more precious than silver or gold, it's a picture of my soul mate, whose memory will never grow old.'

Locals in the town said Miss White's sister Lisa and her stepmother Bríd left for the USA today, to begin the process of repatriating Cathriona's body home for burial.

It's understood White's undertakers in the neighbouring parish of Doon, which is owned by Cathriona's grandfather James, will provide the the funeral service in the coming weeks.

White's body was found after two friends came to check up on her at her Los Angeles residence (above)

The home's door (left) had been sealed by the coroner (right) on Tuesday when reporters arrived on the scene

Frank Nakama, 81, a gardener who has worked in the street for 40 years, said he last spoke to White on Friday, saying she was 'quiet but polite as usual'

It's not known if Jim Carey will attend the funeral and burial ceremony in picturesque Cappawhite.

Earlier today it emerged that Miss White's mother Brigid told a family friend of her heartbreak, saying: 'My Cathriona is dead. My Cathriona is dead.

'Can you believe it? What am I going to do? What am I going to do?'

It is understood she is planning to travel to Ireland later this week to be with the rest of the family.

Yesterday, Carrey issued a statement saying he was 'shocked and deeply saddened by the passing of my sweet Cathriona.

'She was a truly kind and delicate Irish flower, too sensitive for this soil, to whom loving and being loved was all that sparkled.

'My heart goes out to her family and friends and to everyone who loved and cared about her. We have all been hit with a lightning bolt.'

Miss White and Carrey started dating in late in the summer of 2012 but by March 2013 they had split up.

Carrey and Cathriona first met in 2012 but broke up in March 2013. They rekindled their romance this past May, when they were seen holding hands in New York City together (left and right)

The couple appeared to have rekindled their romance this past May, when they were seen smiling and holding hands on outings in New York City.

In one of the pictures of the couple taken in May, Carrey is seen wearing an Irish hurling jersey representing White's home county of Tipperary.

On Tuesday, the three-bedroom, $1.1million house where White's body was found had been sealed by the coroner.

The house has a swimming pool at the rear and spectacular views overlooking a valley.

Family photographs can still be seen in one of the bedrooms, including one in silhouette that appears to be of White and Carrey.

It is believed White was renting the property for $5,000 a month.

A neighbor, who did not want to be named, said White had seemed paranoid and depressed in recent days.

He told The Sun : 'She wasn't smiling. She seemed paranoid — she'd also installed security cameras all over the property in the last couple of months.'

Another neighbor said: 'There were fire trucks and police cars up here between 9pm and 11.30pm.

A community in shock: Whites funeral home near Cappawhite in County Tipperary, Ireland, is run by Cathriona's grandfather and uncle

Above is the last picture White posted to her Instagram. It was published five days ago and included no caption other than a series of hashtags including 'yearning', 'love' and 'faith'

The day before her last Instagram post, White published a picture of flowers with a dark quote from Irish poet W.B. Yeats that begins 'Faeries, come take me out of this dull world'

Cathriona posted this photo to her Instagram account a week ago, with the caption: 'Before going for a wonderful belated birthday dinner at Nobu in Malibu last night.

Cathriona on an Easter Sunday hike in southern California. She moved to California from Ireland in 2009

'She was very private and had only lived in the house a few months. I'd heard Carrey was her boyfriend but never saw him here.'

In October 2012, friends from White's home village which has a population of less than 400 - told the Irish Mail on Sunday that they were completely taken aback when they first saw pictures of her hand-in-hand with Carrey.

'We can't believe it,' said a former classmate of White's from the Convent of Mercy in the nearby town of Doon, County Limerick.

'Of all the people, you wouldn't have expected it. Cathriona was always lovely looking, but she wasn't pushy - she was very shy really, and quiet.'

But she was also ambitious, having completed her Leaving Certificate at the Convent of Mercy before going on to study beauty and complementary therapies at the Limerick College of Further Education.

After that, she found work as a beautician in Tipperary before packing her bags for America in 2009.

Within weeks of moving to America, White started taking acting classes in addition to finding work as a make-up artist.

According to her IMDB profile, White worked as a make-up artist on the TV series The Online Gamer, for which she also won a walk-on role.

However, her professional profile doesn't list any work since 2013, when she worked as a make-up artist on a short film called Solitude.

White retweeted this post from her then-boyfriend Jim Carrey on September 1

Meanwhile, in Ireland, a local Fine Gael councillor Mary Hanna, who is a friend of the White family, paid a glowing tribute to Cathriona.

'Cathriona was a stunning-looking girl, very quiet, very reserved, and very gentle, as are all the White family. She was a very bright girl going to school,' Ms Hanna said.

'Everybody would remember her. Obviously we are in shock that she is not with us any longer.

'The people in Cappawhite are deeply shocked. It's hard to believe that poor child is gone, whatever happened. The facts remain that a mother is without her daughter this evening.

'Her sister Lisa and her brother James are without a sister, her grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins are all without Cathriona. It's so heartbreaking.'

Emigrating to America appears to have been tough for the young woman, as she wasn't able to be home when her father Pat died in September 2012 - nor could she attend his funeral.

White's father Pat was in his 50s but had been battling a brain tumor for two decades.

News broke of Carrey's relationship with White in 2012, when he was pictured with the then 'mystery' woman on a beach in Malibu (above)

He raised Cathriona and her two siblings after divorcing their mother Brigid, who remarried and moved to England.

Her father's funeral isn't the only major family event that White missed.

In 2011, her brother James, who is two years older than her, was awarded the Military Cross at Buckingham Palace by Queen Elizabeth II for courageous acts while serving with the British army in Afghanistan.

It was a rare honor considering James was born and bred in Ireland, and left his home country for England in order to join the foreign army.

However, Cathriona was unable to attend the ceremony.

Living across the pond also meant she didn't have many opportunities to dote on her young nieces and nephews.

However she did go home recently when her sister Lisa got married

CATHRIONA'S WAR-HERO BROTHER AWARDED TOP MILITARY HONOR

Cathriona White's brother James was awarded the Military Cross in 2012 by Queen Elizabeth II for several heroic acts in Afghanistan

Cathriona White was living in America when her brother James was awarded the Military Cross by Queen Elizabeth II for heroic acts during his deployment to Afghanistan.

Irish-born James had always wanted to be a soldier, and decided to join the British army after getting turned down by the Irish army, his father Pat White told the Irish Independent in 2011.

'He tried to join the Irish army, but failed on the medical because he had asthma as a child, but he quickly grew out of that. He worked here for a bit before moving to England and joined the army,' Mr White, who is now deceased, said.

As a member of the Parachute Regiment, James was one of 136 members of the British Armed Forces chosen to be honored by the Queen with a medal in 2011.

While James had served two seven-month tours in Afghanistan at that point, as part of a special forces support, it was three brace actions on his second tour that merited the medal.

The first happened when two platoons were pinned down by enemy fire, and James ran more than 200 yards in open ground to assist his comrades.

James is also said to have taken out an insurgent machine gunner, and he helped the evacuation of soldiers - who were taking casualties - by attacking an enemy-held compound.

Cathriona's death no doubt comes as a hard blow for Carrey, not only because of their former relationship but because of his longtime battle with depression.

In an interview in 2004 with 60 Minutes, Carrey revealed he had been medicated to combat the illness.

'I was on Prozac for a long time. It may have helped me out of a jam for a little bit, but people stay on it forever.

'I had to get off at a certain point because I realized that, you know, everything's just OK.

'There are peaks, there are valleys. But they're all kind of carved and smoothed out, and it feels like a low level of despair you live in. Where you're not getting any answers, but you're living OK. And you can smile at the office. You know? But it's a low level of despair. You know?' he said.

Carrey in April, around the time that he got back together with White

In addition to quitting Prozac, Carrey said he stopped drinking alcohol and pretty much nixed caffeine as well.

'I rarely drink coffee. I'm very serious about no alcohol, no drugs. Life is too beautiful,' he said.

Carrey has twice been married. In 1987 he wed Comedy Store waitress Melissa Womer; they stayed together for eight years and have a daughter, Jane Erin Carrey, the same age as White, who has a child of her own.

A year after Carrey's split from Womer in 1995, the actor married his Dumb and Dumber co-star Lauren Holly, but that marriage lasted less than a year.

After than he was involved in a number of relationships with other actresses including January Jones, Laurie Holden and Me Myself and Irene co-star Renee Zellweger, to whom he was briefly engaged.

In 2005 he began a five-year relationship with Jenny McCarthy, and became a step-father to her son Evan.

Carrey started out his career as a comedic actor in such Blockbuster hits as The Mask, Dumb and Dumber and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective before moving on to more serious work.

He has twice won a Golden Globe for acting, for roles in Man on the Moon and The Truman Show.

His part in the cult film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, in which he plays a man undergoing a procedure to erase the memory of an ex-girlfriend, has also become a career-defining role for the actor.

• For confidential help, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in the U.S. on 1-800-273-8255 or click here

• For confidential support on suicide matters in the UK, call the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90, visit a local Samaritans branch or click here

• For confidential support on suicide matters in Australia, call Lifeline on 13 11 14, Suicide Call Back Service at 1-300-659-467 or click here