Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past three decades, you’ve probably heard of Jim Carrey. The comedian has carved a niche out for himself in Hollywood as being one of the funniest actors ever!
Appearing in timeless classics like The Mask and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Carrey has received plenty of media attention, especially when it comes to his personal relationships.
Carrey has been married twice. This post focuses on his first wife, Melissa Womer. We’ll talk about her early life, career, net worth, and her relationship with the comic icon.
Let’s dive in.
Melissa Womer: A Brief Overview
Melissa Womer may have made a living as a performer in front of the camera, and she may have been married to one of Hollywood’s best-known actors. But the 63-year-old actress/writer/producer is actually quite shy and prefers to keep her personal life private and away from the limelight.
Early Life
Melissa Jaine Womer was born on the 8th of July in 1960 in New York. She had a rough childhood and, as a result, faced a slew of problems later on in her life, such as mental illness and substance abuse.
Despite all that, Melissa still managed to finish high school and then went on to enroll at the University of Kansas (KU), where she received her bachelor’s degree.
It was during her time as a college student that Melissa found an outlet for her writing, especially in comedy. She was even hired by a local radio station, Q104, to write comedy sketches as a way to earn some money.
Career
‘Man on the Moon’
After graduating from KU, Melissa decided to head to Hollywood, the land of dreams.
This is where started her career as a cocktail waitress at a comedy store, which is where she met Jim Carrey. It’s also how she got the nickname ‘Comedy Store Waitress.’
During that time, she was also pursuing her dreams of becoming an up-and-coming writer and actress. Then, after she’d been waitressing at the comedy store for a while, she got the opportunity to get on stage and show off her comedy routine at an open mic night.
After a while, she became better at handling the crowd, which helped her gain more confidence in herself and her material.
Soon, Melissa had enough faith in her ability to act and entertain so she began auditioning for roles in movies and television shows. Then, in 1974, she finally made her debut as an actress, which landed her the role of Rita Field in the film Petrocelli.
This opened up new opportunities for you and soon, Melissa was getting offers to do more movies. Her most memorable role is her portrayal of a waitress in the film Man on the Moon where her ex-husband Jim Carrey played the late comic Andy Kaufman.
Melissa is also a producer and has worked on a handful of TV shows, such as Real Stories of Donut Men and Yesterday Show with John Kerwin.
Marriage to Jim Carrey
Sometime during the mid-1980s, Melissa and Jim Carrey were both busy working two jobs to try and make ends meet. They both worked at the Sunset Boulevard Comedy Club and would cross paths each day.
Soon, they got to know each other well and the couple started dating. Finding they had lots of things in common, their relationship blossomed until after a year of dating, they decided to tie the knot.
The couple got married on March 28, 1987. Then, on September 6 of that same year, their daughter, Jane Erin Carrey, was born.
Unfortunately, their marriage would last only seven years before they decided to file for a divorce in 1995 due to ‘irreconcilable differences.’
Carrey claimed that their busy and conflicting work schedules were the main reason for the divorce.
Interestingly, Womer has been quoted as saying that she had repeatedly asked her husband to stay grounded and pitch in with the responsibilities at home. Obviously, Carrey couldn’t handle the domesticities of married life, which led to their separation followed by their divorce.
Whatever the reasons were, Womer initially received over $3.5 million in divorce settlements.
Children
Melissa has only one daughter, Jane Erin Carrey. She and her then-husband, Jim Carrey, decided they’d enroll their daughter in a public school so that she could enjoy the perks of a normal childhood as opposed to living an extravagant lifestyle and being hounded by paparazzi day and night.
The young girl, however, did appear alongside her father at a handful of red carpet events. She was also present at this 1995 Footprint Ceremony at Mann’s Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles.
From a young age, Jane had enjoyed performing. She was part of the school band and even took on a few roles in her school’s theater productions.
Later on, she would follow in her parent’s footsteps, not as an actress, but as a singer. In high school, Jane and a couple of her friends formed a band called ‘The Jane Carrey Band’ with guitarist Daniel Sahagun, drummer Terry Goldberg, and bassist Ian Sloane.
In 2009, the band recorded and released their debut album aptly titled “The Jane Carrey Band.” for a few years after that, they were pretty successful. They even toured and played gigs in and around Southern California.
Then, in 2012, she auditioned for the 11th season of American Idol in San Diego. For her audition, she sang “Something to Talk About” by Bonnie Raitt. Without hesitation, all three judges, Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, and Steven Tyler, unanimously gave her a ‘yes.’
Unfortunately, she didn’t make it through to the final rounds. However, that didn’t keep her from pursuing her dream of becoming a singer/songwriter.
After leaving American Idol, Jane returned to her band. Even though the come-back was short-lived, she and her band are credited for writing and performing two of the songs on the soundtrack of Jim Carrey’s 2014 hit movie Dumb and Dumber To: “Sticky Situation” and “Breathing Without You.”
Over the years, Jane has worked with her father on numerous projects. The most prominent is recording audio for Jim’s children’s book and performing as a playback singer on her father’s 2017 short documentary movie Jim Carrey: I Needed Color. She’s also been the voice of ‘Thump-Thump,’ a puppet who appeared in episode 3101 on her father’s children’s TV show titled Kidding.
Grandchildren
Melissa Womer is a doting grandmother to one teenager and two young kids.
Her first grandson, Jackson Riley Santana, was born on February 26, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. Her daughter, Jane, shares Jackson with her ex-husband, Alex Sanatan.
A few years after her divorce, Jane married Chase Bordelon. Together, they have two children: Erin Rey Bordelon, 3 years old, and Logan James Bordelon, 20 months old.
Net Worth
As of late 2023, Melissa Womer’s net worth is believed to be somewhere in the range of $8 million–$9 million.
Half of that, she acquired through her divorce settlement, which was $3.5 million at the time of the divorce. It was alleged that she received another $7 million from Carrey in child support several years after her divorce.
The rest of Melissa’s net worth comes from her work as a writer, actress, and film producer.
To Sum Up
Ever since she was a little girl, Melissa Womer dreamed of making it big in Hollywood. Fortunately, she would go on to achieve her goals of being a skilled writer, a talented actress, and a big-shot producer.
Melissa would even marry one of the top-grossing actors in the film industry, Jim Carrey. Together, they have only one daughter, Jane Eric Carrey, who has grown into a talented singer/songwriter, devoted mother, and loving wife.