Fifteen years after her shocking death, Us Weekly’s latest cover story looks back at Brittany Murphy’s life and the mystery that still surrounds her passing
On the cool morning of December 20, 2009, actress Brittany Murphy collapsed unconscious in the primary bathroom of her Hollywood Hills home, where she lived with her mother, Sharon Murphy, and husband of two years, Simon Monjack. “My daughter’s passed out,” her mother sobbed in the disturbing 911 call. “She was dizzy, she couldn’t walk right, she’s had a cold.”
Things got even stranger five months later, when Monjack eerily followed his wife in death — in the same house, of similar causes. Something didn’t feel right. Unfortunately, conjecture about Murphy’s death continues to hijack her legacy, overshadowing the achievements of the promising young woman whose career never reached the heights it should have. Director Alex Merkin, who helmed 2009’s Across the Hall, the last of Murphy’s films to be released in her lifetime, tells Us he places her in the same category as Marilyn Monroe and James Dean. “She was one of those stars with a bright future that never got fulfilled,” he says.
“Brittany was 14 when she came into the offices,” Chris Snyder, the star’s first agent in Los Angeles, recalled in the HBO Max documentary. “TV was fun, but Brittany wanted to be a movie star with every fiber of her being. She wanted to be in films.”Murphy’s big break came in 1995, playing a frumpy high school student in Clueless. She followed up with 1999’s acclaimed Girl, Interrupted, alongside Angelina Jolie and Winona Ryder, who became a close friend.
While Murphy denied rumors that she was anorexic, her friend actress Melanie Lynskey talked openly about body-shaming and the intense pressure to be thin in Hollywood. “The way saw herself always broke my heart,” recalled Lynskey. “The things she felt she had to change to be a successful actress.” By the time she crossed paths with Monjack in 2006, Murphy was in a vulnerable place. Not only were her relationships not working, but roles in studio films were also drying up due to reports of tardiness and being medicated on set. Oblivious to Monjack’s reputation as a con man and epic liar, the naive star, who never learned to balance a checkbook or drive a car, fell hard. In her mind, she’d finally found a father figure who would love and shield her from life’s cruelties.
Six months later, in November 2009, Murphy traveled with Monjack, her mother and her Maltese puppy, Clara, to Puerto Rico to shoot a low-budget thriller, The Caller. Things went south the first day, when Monjack reportedly showed up drunk and combative. After he was banned from the set, Murphy promptly parted ways with the production. The trio stayed on eight more days vacationing in San Juan — but Monjack and Sharon came down with debilitating colds while there.
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