Amy Mccarthy
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A sketch on her MTV show centered on her character, a well-coiffed business woman, answering the question of "What did you have for lunch?" by seeming to force herself to vomit all over a table which she then ate on-screen. This was faked using special effects. The direct contrast of McCarthy's reputation as a sex symbol and this often grotesque humor is closely associated with her image. This image was taken to a new extreme in her film Dirty Love, which featured McCarthy's character sitting in a massive pool of her own menstrual blood.
McCarthy dated her manager Ray Manzella for a short time in 1998. After breaking up with Manzella, McCarthy began dating actor/director John Mallory Asher. The couple became engaged in January 1999, and married on September 11 of that year. They have a son, Evan Joseph, born on May 18, 2002. Evan was diagnosed with autism. In August 2005, McCarthy and Asher filed for divorce.
In December 2005, McCarthy began dating Jim Carrey. They did not make their relationship public until June 2006. She announced on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on April 2, 2008 that she and Carrey were then living together, but had no plans to marry, as they did not need a "piece of paper."[citation needed] Carrey almost made a mock proposal to McCarthy as a promotion to the film, Yes Man for Ellen's Twelve Days of Holidays. McCarthy and Carrey announced that they had split up in April 2010.
Her brother-in-law is former NHL hockey player Dan Hinote. Dan is married to her younger sister, Amy McCarthy, a former Playboy Cyber Girl. She is also an avid Chicago White Sox fan.
McCarthy is a vegan.
In May 2007, McCarthy announced that her son Evan was diagnosed with autism in 2005. Evan's disorder began with seizures and his improvement occurred after the seizures were treated; these symptoms are more consistent with Landau–Kleffner syndrome, which is often misdiagnosed as autism. McCarthy served as a spokesperson for Talk About Curing Autism (TACA) from June 2007 until October 2008. She participated in fundraisers, online chats, and other activities for the non-profit organization to help families affected by autism spectrum disorders. Her first fundraiser for TACA, Ante Up for Autism, was held on October 20, 2007, in Irvine, California. She is a prominent spokesperson and activist for the Generation Rescue foundation. Before claiming that her son's autism was caused by vaccination, McCarthy wrote that he is a "crystal child" and she an "indigo mom".
McCarthy's book on the subject, Louder than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism was published September 17, 2007. She has stated both in her book and during her appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show that her husband was unable to deal with their son's autism, which led to their divorce. In 2008, she appeared on a Larry King Live special dedicated to the subject, and argued that vaccines can trigger autism. No scientists were invited to speak in response.
Although McCarthy's claims on television that vaccines cause autism are not supported by the medical evidence, they have contributed to parental concerns about a possible link; parental concerns have led to decreased immunization rates and increased incidence of measles, a highly contagious and sometimes deadly disease, as well as a resurgence of whooping cough. McCarthy has stated at many talk shows and rallies that chelation therapy helped her son recover from autism; however, the underlying rationale for chelation, which is that mercury in vaccines causes autism, has been roundly rejected by scientific studies, with the National Institute of Mental Health concluding that autistic children are unlikely to receive any benefit to balance the risks of cognitive and emotional problems posed by the chelating agents used in the treatment.
McCarthy's public presence, and vocal activism on the vaccination-autism controversy, led to her being awarded The James Randi Educational Foundation's Pigasus Award (awards granted by Randi for contributing to pseudoscientific ideas) for the 'Performer Who Has Fooled The Greatest Number of People with The Least Amount of Effort'. Randi stated in a video on the JREF's website that he did sympathize with the plight of McCarthy and her child, but admonished her for using her public presence in a way that may discourage parents from having their own children vaccinated.
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