Brittany Murphy: the mysterious death of a young star

On November 10, 2021, actress Brittany Murphy would have celebrated her 44th birthday. However, fate decided otherwise. She passed away under mysterious circumstances at age 32.

December 20, 2009 - An announcement by TMZ: "American actress Brittany Murphy, 32, died yesterday in Los Angeles. Although the causes of death have not yet been clarified, everything points to a cardiac arrest."

(Image: Brittany Murphy as Tai in 'Clueless,' 1995)

May 23, 2010 - The Los Angeles Times reported: "Brittany Murphy's husband, Simon Monjack, has been found dead in his Hollywood Hills home, five months after his wife's death. The causes of death are still unknown."

It has become a classic Hollywood horror story. What happened to Brittany Murphy? How did she die? And what happened to her husband, Simon Monjack?

Many theories seek to answer the question of why Brittany Murphy died. However, there is only one official account.

Brittany's mother found her unconscious in the shower. "Alerted by the call, paramedics went to the house and found that she was having a cardiac arrest," TMZ reported. "They initiated the resuscitation protocol and continued it until her admission to the hospital. There, at 10:04 am, her death was certified."

According to the full autopsy report on Brittany Murphy, published by CNN, the actress was taking "medications for a cold and menstrual cramps." It seemed that these drugs, mixed with strong anemia and the pneumonia she suffered, "were too strong for her body."

But then her husband died, too. It was very suspicious. Forensic reports showed that Simon Monjack had also suffered a deadly cardiac arrest.

Months after Simon's death, investigators found that the sudden demise of both Brittany and Simon was probably not coincidental. Their house was to blame.

Investigators discovered mold on the walls of the house in which the couple lived and where they both died. This mold "could have caused problems in the respiratory system for both of them," TMZ reported.

However, this hypothesis was not accepted by everyone. In November 2013, Brittany Murphy's (alleged) biological father, Angelo Bertolotti, claimed that his daughter's death was a clear case of murder.

He had an independent forensic team reinvestigate the case. They reportedly detected "a concentration of base metals typical of rat poison and insecticides" in Brittany Murphy's remains. "It's very suspicious," Berlotti said on CNN. "I feel like she was poisoned."

Dr. Bruce Goldberger responded on CNN by saying that Berlotti's theory was "kind of ridiculous." It was "an unfounded accusation and an outrageous statement based solely on one piece of capillary evidence."

Brittany's mother, Sharon Murphy, intervened in the developing scandal. She wrote an emotional letter to The Hollywood Reporter with a rebuttal of her ex-partner's claims. "She was my baby, and we stood together throughout Britanny's life," she said. "Now I must stand up for her again."

"It is time for those who really knew and loved her to put those who want to exploit her on notice: Your lies will no longer be tolerated, and as long as I live will continue to be exposed."

At the age of 92, in January 2019, Brittany Murphy's father died without having been able to prove his theories about the death of his daughter.

Another comment about Brittany Murphy's death was made by the prestigious pathologist Richard Shepherd. In statements to The Independent in 2014, he claimed that the actress's death could have been prevented.

"If she had gone to the hospital 24 hours earlier," he said, she might still be alive today. Brittany was sick for some time, but she "was so sedated that neither Simon Monjack nor Sharon Murphy could tell how sick she was."

The pathologist thinks that Brittany's sedated condition may have been the reason her mother and Simon did not call an ambulance before." He says the actress had been taking "a cocktail of prescription drugs" in the weeks leading up to her death. "They included antidepressants, sedatives and cough medicines."

It was clear, however, that Brittany Murphy did not have an addiction problem. "In all the time I was with her, she never took drugs," Simon Monjack told The Daily Beast shortly after the actress had died.

"In fact," he adds, "Brittany Murphy was anti-drug, something that cost her a lot of roles in Hollywood. All she wanted to do was work, make movies. But in Hollywood girls like Brittany are disposable."

Apparently, Brittany Murphy wasn't having her best professional moment at the time she died. Her last film was 'Something Wicked,' a thriller released in 2014. It had been shot six months before her death in 2009.

Brittany Murphy's husband claims that Warner Brothers studios had some influence on the actress's death. Two weeks before she passed away, the company had rejected her for the voice-over of the second part of 'Happy Feet.' It had a big impact on the actress's state of mind.

Simon Monjack said that Brittany was "devastated" upon hearing that she would not continue the role she had in the first Happy Feet. He angrily stated in The Daily Beast that actors were used as disposable items in Hollywood.

With Simon's passing a few months later, the mystery grew bigger. Brittany Murphy has since been remembered as an actress with amazing promise and charm who became a Hollywood legend on that one fateful day.

Read more: Hollywood stars who passed away too soon and too sudden