Even though it’s been more than a decade, the mystery and shock surrounding the sudden demise of the actress Brittany Murphy still hovers around Hollywood and in the minds of her beloved family, friends, and fans. Making a place of her own in Hollywood through her performance as Tai Fraiser in the 1995 coming-of-age teen comedy movie Clueless, Brittany Murphy passed away on December 20, 2009.
She was only 32 years old at the time of Brittany Murphy Death. There had been much confusion and claims regarding the untimely death of the young actress. The death of her husband after about six months at the same house where Brittany died also added to the speculations of the mystery surrounding her death.
Taking the popularity that the actress into account, people were curious about the reason behind the untimely death of the actress and this even gave rise to two series which were aimed at investigating the reason behind the death of the actress.
In 2020, Investigation Discovery came up with a documentary that was titled ‘Brittany Murphy: An ID Murder Mystery’ which explored the behind the scene events of the death of the actress. In 2021, HBO Max also came up with a two-episode series that also discussed the reason that led to the death of Brittany Murphy. The series was titled ‘What Happened, Brittany Murphy?’
Who Was Brittany Murphy?
Born on November 10, 1997, as the daughter of Sharon Kathleen Murphy and Angelo Joseph Bertolotti, Brittany Murphy was the only daughter that the couple had from their marriage. Brittany Murphy’s parents got divorced when she was just two years old. Even though Brittany Murphy was born in Atlanta Georgia, she was raised by her mother in Edison, New Jersey. Brittany Murphy and her mother moved to Los Angeles in the year 1991 so that Brittany Murphy could pursue a career in acting.
Brittany Murphy grew up along with her single mother, whom she loved and respected a lot. During many instances, Brittany stated how her mother supported her to build up her talent and career. Her father has three other children from a different marriage which gave Brittany Murphy two elder half-brothers and also a younger half-sister.
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Brittany Murphy’s Acting Career
Brittany Murphy had been passionate about acting and performance from a very young age. Brittany started her basic training in dancing and singing at the age of four. She continued her training until she was thirteen years old when she finally moved to Los Angeles. Brittany Murphy also received her basic training in dance and theatre from the Verne Fowler School of Dance and Theatre Arts. She attended the school in 1982.
Even though Brittany Murphy became a popular name after the release of her 1995 movie Clueless, Murphy made her debut at the age of thirteen She started off in the American sitcom ‘Drexell’s Class’ as Brenda Drexell.
From there, Brittany went on to be a part of many projects like Murder One, Fraiser, Parker Lewis Can’t Lose, and Blossom. The roles she had in these projects were minute or guest appearances.
The much-needed break for Brittany Murphy came through her role as Tai Fraiser in the 1995 teen-comedy movie ‘Clueless.’ The film became a huge success and influenced many different trends. The vocabulary and phrases used by the characters in the movie became very popular and also influenced some major fashion trends during that time.
Donatella Versace, the founder of the luxury fashion brand Versace was inspired by the movie for her 2018 collection. Such was the impact the movie had on popular culture.
With the moving becoming a blockbuster, Brittany Murphy also had a steep growth in her acting career. From there, Brittany was fortunate enough to be a part of many successful projects like Freeway, Girl, Interrupted, Drop Dead Gorgeous, 8 Mile, and many more. She even shared the screen with stars like Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie.
Personal Life And Relationships
The 2003 movie Just Married brought Brittany Murphy and her co-star Ason Kutcher close. The couple was reported to be dating in 2002 but broke up a short while after. Brittany Murphy was engaged twice in her life.
First, Brittany Murphy was engaged to Jeff Kwatinetz. Jeff was a talent manager at that time. Today he is the COO of Cube Vision, which is a film and television production company. The engagement was eventually called off and later in December 2005, Brittany Murphy got engaged to Joe Macaluso.
Joe was a production assistant during that time and they met while working together on the project Little Black Book. A year after the announced engagement, in 2006 the couple called off the engagement.
Brittany Murphy got married in 2007 when she tied the knot with Simon Monjack. Simon Monjack is a British screenwriter, director, and producer. They got married in Los Angeles. The ceremony was a very private one where the marriage took place according to Jewish traditions. The couple stayed together until the death of Brittany Murphy in 2009. Brittany Murphy had no children.
Brittany Murphy Death
The events that led to the eventual death of Brittany Murphy took place on December 20, 2009. According to the reports, Brittany Murphy started feeling unwell in the morning, around 7:30 am. Brittany collapsed in her house, saying that she was not feeling well.
Her mother dialed 911 for help and the first responders arrived at her house soon. After attempting CPR on Brittany Murphy, they took her to a medical center in Los Angeles. Brittany Muphy was pronounced dead around 10 in the morning, the same day.
The news came as a shock to Hollywood and her fans worldwide. An autopsy was performed on Brittany Murphy to detect the cause of her death. As per the autopsy report, the cause of Brittany Murphy’s death was pneumonia with factors like iron deficiency anemia and multiple drug intoxication adding to the effect of the primary cause.
There was the presence of different types of drugs in her body, which were all legal drugs. They were speculated to be from the painkiller Vicodin and also from an inhaler which is used to treat the symptoms of pneumonia. As per the autopsy reports, the effect of elevated levels of these drugs had on an already weak body of Brittany could not be discounted.
Before her death in 2009, Brittany Murphy was spotted losing a lot of weight. This made people come up with different assumptions about her eating habits and alleged her to be an out-of-control drug user. There was news about Brittany Murphy that she was a drug addict and that she was spiraling out of control.
But when asked about these allegations Brittany replied with a strong no and added that she had never taken any sort of drugs in he life. Following her death, her family also came up with statements that said she had not done any illegal drugs and the drugs found in her system during the autopsy were the medications that she was prescribed.
After about four months of Brittany Murphy’s death, her husband Monjackalso passed away in the same house as Brittany Murphy. The autopsy report of her husband said that the reason for his death was also pneumonia which was accompanied by severe anemia – the same cause which led to Brittany’s death. After the death of her husband, different speculations about the death started circulating in the media.
Among the discussed topics, one of the most bizarre reasons was the reports which stated that the Los Angeles County Department of Health was taking into the possibility of a toxic mold in their household which led to the death of the actress and her husband.
But this news was deemed false by the Los Angeles Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter. He made it clear that the news was false and there were no reports of mold being the reason for the reported deaths.
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After the Death
Even a decade after the tragic event, people are still hung up on the mysteries and events that surround the death of Brittany Murphy and her husband. The documentary by Investigation Discovery titled ‘Brittany Murphy; An ID Murder Mystery’ which came out in 2020 and the HBO Max series ‘What happened, Brittany Murphy’ are proof of this statement.
Even though the projects aimed at unraveling the mystery behind the death of Brittany Murphy, they both brought nothing new o the case. Most parts of the projects focused on how talented she was and the good memories that people who knew her had to share. The HBO Max series was reported to be “an unenlightening examination of Murphy’s late husband” by The Hollywood Reporter.