The Grinch curse laid bare as cast behind Christmas movie suffer off-screen tragedies

One of the festive season's best loved movies, The Grinch, goes down as a true Christmas classic - but the truth behind the cast's lives is one of tragedy and despair.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas, starring Jim Carrey and Taylor Momsen, won 18 awards and 37 nominations, and is an adaptation based on Dr Seuss' creation. It follows a grumpy recluse, who lives near the town of Whoville and tries to stop Christmas being celebrated.

The loner goes to local houses, stealing presents, trees and food, dressing as Santa Claus in an attempt to ruin everyone's Christmas. He goes on to interact with Cindy Lou Who, a young girl who tries to show him the joy of Christmas.

The story itself was borne out of tragedy, with Dr Seuss inspired by his wife's health problems, after she suffered a stroke. He said it was based on her struggles, plus his disgust at the commercialisation of Christmas, which lead him to feel "very Grinchish". After Ron Howard's adaptation was released in 2000, the lives of some of the actors who starred as main characters took dark turns, here we look at what happened and where they are now.

Taylor Momsen

Taylor played Cindy Lou in the adaptation, the sweet young girl who is set on showing the Grinch how much joy Christmas can bring to people. But tragically, Taylor, now 31, has not had an easy time since her starring role as a young girl.

She went on to front band The Pretty Reckless, finding success in the music industry as well as Hollywood. But despite her achievements professionally, Taylor struggled with an "utterly dark hole of depression and substance abuse" in her personal life.

Her issues spiralled when she lost two friends in the space of a year, the first being Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell. Taylor's band were touring with Soundgarden at the time of his shock suicide at the age of 52. She described his death as "devastating", telling Metro : "It crushed me in a way that I can't explain and I was not prepared for as a person. I wasn't in a good place mentally to be public. I cancelled touring, I went home. I needed to attempt to process what had happened and kind of get my s**t together."

After the death of "best friend in the world", record producer Kato Khandwala, in April 2018, Taylor said: "It was the nail in the coffin for me." Since then, she's stepped away from fame, instead focussing on her health and travel.

Joshua Ryan Evans

Actor Joshua Ryan Evans played the young version of Jim Carrey's character in the Grinch, starring in the movie aged 18. Although he was a teenager at the time, he played the role of a young child due to his condition, a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia.

He tragically passed away just two years after it was release, after complications during a surgical procedure to correct a congenital heart condition. He died on August 5 2002, on the same day his death as character Timmy on TV show Passions was aired.

Jim Carrey

A Lister Jim Carrey signed up to play the titular character at the height of his fame. Having already starred in box office hits Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, Dumb and Dumber (all 1994), Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, and Batman Forever, The Grinch cemented him as a comedy actor.

But the actor, who has been open about his battle with depression, having taken Prozac for years, attracted controversy after the suicide of his girlfriend. Carrey was dating married make up artist Cathriona White until her death, after an intentional overdose.

She got married in 2013 to Mark Burton, but had been dating Carrey since 2012, and was still seeing him when she died in 2015. After her death, her husband and mother both filed wrongful death lawsuits against Carrey, claiming he was "dishonest" and used his "immense wealth and celebrity status" to distribute the drugs that she took.

No further action was taken and both lawsuits were dismissed. After the court cases, Carrey released a statement that read: "What a terrible shame. It would be easy for me to get in a back room with this man's lawyer and make this go away, but there are some moments in life when you have to stand up and defend your honor against the evil in this world.

"I will not tolerate this heartless attempt to exploit me or the woman I loved. Cat's troubles were born long before I met her and sadly her tragic end was beyond anyone's control. I really hope that some day soon people will stop trying to profit from this and let her rest in peace."

Christine Baranski

Mamma Mia! star Christine Baranski played the Grinch's childhood crush Martha May Whovier in the film, and has enjoyed had a successful career with plenty of big movies. But her personal life was turned upside down in 2014, when her husband of 30 years died from heart failure aged 69. He left behind Christine and their two daughters, Isabel and Lily.

Speaking to Parade in 2017, she said: "There's no shortcut to grief. A few months after Matthew passed away I had to be back in front of a camera, but it helped to be with my community of people. They all knew and loved me, so going back to work was good. Still, for the first month or so, you're rather numb. The death of a loved one is not only deeply sad but also very disorienting.

"When you've had a 30-year marriage and sat across from this person every morning having coffee, it's so strange. Someone is there and then suddenly they're not there to talk to ever again."

Jeffrey Tambor

The 80-year-old actor played Mayor Augustus, the governor of Whoville in the festive movie, where he bullied the Grinch as a child. But life began to imitate art when Tambor was accused of similar behaviour towards colleagues, as well as claims of sexual misconduct towards those working on Amazon show Transparent in 2018.

Claims made by former personal assistant Van Barnes and his Transparent co-star Trace Lysette, were vehemently denied by Tambor, who branded the allegations "baseless". He said he was "appalled and distressed" by the accusations, branding Barnes a "disgruntled assistant".

He told the Hollywood Reporter : "Lines got blurred. I was difficult, I was mean... I was rude to my assistant. I was moody. Sometimes I didn’t talk at all."

Barnes, a transgender woman, responded to the article saying: "I call BS! ...and in my best trans-affirmative voice "B****, Please!"... the truth always prevails and I have no problem letting that truth go public in the right way as soon as I'm cleared to do so."

Follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .