Inside Jenny McCarthy's personal turmoil: Star closes school for autistic children amidst split from Jim Carrey
Jenny McCarthy has had the worst two months of her life — her school and her man have vanished within 60 days! Not only has Jenny McCarthy just split from her long-term lover Jim Carrey, but HollywoodLife.com has learned exclusively that she has also closed her state-of-the art and much-lauded school for young autistic children, Teach2Talk Academy, because of internal disagreements with her co-founder, Dr. Sarah Scheflen.
"Jenny and her partner at the Academy, Sarah Scheflen, had different visions for the school and made a decision to go their separate ways. Both intend to continue on in this important mission. Sarah and Jenny really enjoyed their time working at the Academy and feel honored that they were able to provide such high quality early intervention services to so many children with autism and other developmental disabilities," Jenny's rep told HollywoodLife.com in an exclusive statement, today, April 8.
The 37-year-old actress started the school after her son Evan, now seven, was diagnosed with autism in 2005, when he was two years old. Jenny put considerable time and resources into the school, and, as recently as last winter, told KidsLA magazine how pleased she was with it: "I'm proud to say [Teach2Talk Academy] is an absolute success in terms of the amount of progress children with autism are making. We do have a goal to open more schools around the country. If I had Bill Gates' money, I would have them in every state."
Located in a renovated house in Sherman Oaks, Calif., Talk2Teach Academy worked with children under the age of nine and was heralded for its unique one-to-one teacher-student ratio and integrated techniques. As of today, the Teach2Talk website was still selling its self-branded line of educational materials, including DVDs and nutritional supplements.
It was Jenny's pet project — but, according to a source who knew the couple well, the school's demise may even have been an additional strain that contributed to the end of her five-year relationship with 48-year-old Jim Carrey.
"I don't know who broke up with whom, but I know that for a little bit before the school fell apart Jim was going to possibly buy out Jenny's partner so the school would be all Jenny's. Then, next thing I heard, [Jenny] was moving out [from Carrey's house]," an insider told us about the couple's April 4 split . "Jenny McCarthy has had...the worst two months of her life. Her school and her man all vanished in about 60 days."
Jim announced he and Jenny were splitting via Twitter April 6: "Jenny and I have just ended our 5yr relationship. I'm grateful 4 the many blessings we've shared and I wish her the very best! S'okay! ?;^>"
-- Kirstin Benson