Opinion: We need to change how we talk about celebrities. This Jim Carrey conspiracy proves it

Jim Carrey poses with the Honorary Cesar Award during the 51st Cesar Film Awards at L'Olympia. Photo / Getty Images

THE FACTS

• Chadwick Boseman’s weight loss was mocked before his death from colon cancer in 2020.
• Jim Carrey faced similar scrutiny over his appearance at the César Film Awards.
• The article urges empathy, highlighting past mistakes and the harmful impact of online judgment.

When Chadwick Boseman was photographed running errands in 2020, the Black Panther star’s thinner appearance – and hidden hardship – was turned into a cruel feeding frenzy.

“SAD CHAD; Avengers’ Chadwick Boseman looks glum as he runs errands amid dramatic weight loss,” one headline read.

Though some fans reacted with concern, many shamed him, implying drug use and labelling the Golden Globe winner, “Crack Panther”.

Five months later, in August 2020, the actor died after a private four‑year battle with colon cancer.

This week, Jim Carrey appeared in Paris, where he was being honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the 51st César Film Awards at L’Olympia.

The 64-year-old has largely lived as a recluse in recent years, pursuing a quiet life of painting, spirituality and time away from the Hollywood machine.

Sure, his hair and face have slightly changed since we last saw him.

But considering how we’ve misread these situations in the past, we should hesitate before rushing to judgment.

Because by now, we know better than to churn out memes or join the pile‑on without knowing what someone is actually going through, right?

Wrong. Instead, an event set to honour his career was turned into an exercise in dehumanisation.

Some “fans” suggested he had had a face transplant. Many said it was plastic surgery gone wrong. And others joked that he’d been cloned.

Alexis Stone, a British drag performer and makeup artist, even suggested they had impersonated Carrey, sharing pictures of prosthetics and a wig resembling the actor’s look that night. The story, of course, went viral.

Awards organisers were forced to deny claims that Jim Carrey was replaced by a double at the César Awards in Paris. Photo / Getty Images

It’s enough to make you want to run back to your easel, double down on the spirituality and never return to Tinseltown again.

Maybe it’s a side effect of my job, or the ability to learn from one’s mistakes, but after I watched the clips of Carrey on social media, I felt nothing but empathy.

First, it’s important to say Carrey has given us no reason to believe he’s unwell. But before we – the public – start tapping away about a celebrity’s changing appearance, we should at least try to have tragedies like Boseman in the front of our excitable minds.

Carrey could be going through something he’s chosen not to share, and rightly so, because time and time again, online commentators have proven their ability to make things worse.

Or maybe he had simply chosen to debut a new look that is now being dragged on every corner of the internet.

As the shrillest corners of the online world reached their crescendo, the comedian’s reps were finally forced to release an unbelievable statement, confirming that the A-list comedian we saw receiving a lifetime honour was, in fact, who he said he was. I was left disappointed in those whose commentary and social media jokes forced their hand.

Sure, celebrities live a life of privilege, having chosen a career where they swap privacy for limelight. Their deep pockets have always been a degree of payment for the constant persecution they face right until the end.

Actress Catherine O’Hara made what would be her final public appearance at the Emmy Awards in September 2025 and was ridiculed for her weight, with comments suggesting her now smaller frame didn’t suit an ageing actress, accused of using weight‑loss drugs.

Four months later, O’Hara’s publicist announced that the beloved Schitt’s Creek and Home Alone star had died of rectal cancer at age 71.

And despite openly stating she’s battling poor mental health and an eating disorder after the loss of her father, Ozzy Osbourne, Kelly Osbourne has been shamed online for her new look.

The star posted a statement begging people to stop the onslaught.

“There is a special kind of cruelty in harming someone who is clearly going through something. Kicking me while I’m down, doubting my pain, spreading my struggles as gossip, and turning your back when I need support and love most.

“None of it proves strength; it only reveals a profound absence of character. I’m currently going through the hardest time of my life. I should not even have to defend myself. But I won’t sit here and allow myself to be dehumanised in such a way.”

Kelly Osbourne and Sharon Osbourne attended the 2026 Brit Awards in Manchester's Co-op Live where the late Ozzy Osbourne, who died last year, was posthumously honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Photo / @brits

The irony of my own job, and the wider media industry, is not lost on me in writing this.

Today, on a single UK tabloid site, I witnessed three stories stacked side‑by‑side about “celebrity shock appearances” – Osbourne, Carrey and Demi Moore were all ripe for the picking.

It reminded me that I, too, can do better. The media industry as a whole can do better, and social media can certainly do better.

We, as the “normal people”, so often still miss the mark, with hurtful consequences.

We mistake facial or weight changes as personal choices or lifestyle shifts, rather than considering serious illness, personal hardship, anxiety, physical or mental decline, simply ageing and more.

We forget, too easily, that celebrities are human first. They deserve the same empathy we expect for ourselves.

Time after time, we’ve been reminded that the story behind the photo is bigger than the one we invent. We just need to pause long enough to see it.

Jenni Mortimer is the NZ Herald’s chief lifestyle and entertainment reporter. Jenni started at the Herald in 2017 and has previously worked as lifestyle, entertainment and travel editor.