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“Jackson Riley Santana, My Grandson, Born today! This is what 7lbs.11oz. of California dynomite looks like!” said Jim Carrey, tweeting about a new arrival and posting a baby picture. That was the first indication, to many people, that his daughter had a child of her own. That's largely because Jane Carrey hadn't gotten into the spotlight in the same way her father has. She's been on some TV shows, and she's gotten her songs out into the world. She definitely has a fan base. But overall she's avoided the high level of spotlight her famous father has focused on for his entire career. 

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The elder Carrey started out with sketch comedy and quickly moved on to feature films where his zany brand of silliness and ability to contort his features had audiences laughing for hours. It was a great way for Carrey to get noticed, and it made him a star nearly overnight. When he had a daughter with Melissa Womer, to whom he was married at the time, he wanted to make sure his little girl had a high level of protection from all the problems Hollywood could cause. While Jane didn't want for much throughout her life, she was also kept out of the limelight in an effort to protect her and keep her safe from harm.

The Early Years, and Dealing With Fame

“The last name definitely helps and hurts, I feel like there's kind of this pressure to maybe be better, because if I make it somewhere, I run the risk of people saying, ‘Oh you only got there because of this,'" Jane has said. While it's nice to have fame and fortune, Jane Carrey has always wanted to have those things on her own merits. Getting them only because of her famous father isn't really getting them at all, when it comes to being an actor or a performer of any kind. As a singer, Jane has started making a name for herself, even though her time on American Idol was unsuccessful and she was eliminated in the first week.

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Jane's younger years were exciting due to Hollywood, and to her father's success in the film industry. Jim Carrey met Melissa Womer in West Hollywood at the Comedy Store, where he performed and she was a waitress. They married after only a few months, and had their daughter Jane shortly after that. Married for eight years, they would eventually divorce in 1995. Jim Carrey then married Lauren Holly in 1996. During the time her father was working through his own personal life and making movies, Jane focused on developing a life of her own as she grew up in the shadow of one of the biggest names in Hollywood.

Having a Baby Changed Everything for Jane

Jane Carrey met Alex Santana, and married him on November 14, 2009. They had a son in February of the following year, but separated after that. Having a young child and a divorce, Jane chose to start over with something new. As she worked as a waitress and raised her son, she also started a band and pursued her dreams of becoming a professional singer. The band gained popularity on YouTube, and iTunes picked up her music. Some of her songs were on the soundtrack to her father's movie, Dumb and Dumber To, in 2014.

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Being careful not to capitalize on her father's name has always been important for Jane, but when she auditioned for American Idol in 2012 she did a segment where she discussed what it was like to grow up with such a famous dad. Her father watched from behind the scenes as his daughter's audition was good enough to move her through the auditions in the first round. Jane takes singing seriously, and wants to make sure she doesn't use her father's fame to gain some of her own. She says that, growing up, her childhood was actually fairly normal, as her father sheltered her from a lot of what happened in Hollywood.

Now that Jane is an adult with a child of her own, she still sings in her band. She's still working as a waitress, too. While she could use her father's money and live comfortably all her life, she's instead choosing to work so she can support her son on her own. By doing that, she's teaching him a great work ethic that will stay with him for his younger years and into his adult life. Not everyone who comes from famous parents also wants that level of fame, and Jane Carrey has shown that she'll seek out her own path, and potentially her own fame, in her own way.