page_title: Brittany Murphy
section_title: Death
hierarchical_section_title: Brittany Murphy / Death
caption_attribution_description: English: Grave of Brittany Murphy at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.
context_page_description: Brittany Anne Murphy-Monjack was an American actress and singer. Born in Atlanta, Murphy moved to Los Angeles as a teenager and pursued a career in acting. Her breakthrough role was as Tai Frasier in Clueless, followed by supporting roles in independent films such as Freeway and Bongwater. She made her stage debut in a Broadway production of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge in 1997, before appearing as Daisy Randone in Girl, Interrupted and as Lisa Swenson in Drop Dead Gorgeous.
  In the 2000s, Murphy appeared in Don't Say a Word alongside Michael Douglas, and alongside Eminem in 8 Mile, for which she gained critical recognition. Her later roles included Riding in Cars with Boys, Spun, Just Married, Uptown Girls, Sin City, and Happy Feet. Murphy also voiced Luanne Platter on the animated television series King of the Hill. Her final film, Something Wicked, was released in April 2014.
  In December 2009, Murphy died of pneumonia at the age of 32.
context_section_description: At 8:00 am on December 20, 2009, the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to "a medical request" at the Los Angeles home Murphy and Monjack shared. She had apparently collapsed in a bathroom. Firefighters attempted to resuscitate Murphy on the scene. She was transported to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she died at 10:04 after going into cardiac arrest.
  Shortly after her death, Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter told the Associated Press: "It appears to be natural."
  An autopsy was performed the day after she died. Her death certificate listed the cause of death as "deferred". On February 4, 2010, the Los Angeles County coroner stated that the primary cause of Murphy's death was pneumonia, with secondary factors of iron-deficiency anemia and multiple drug intoxication. On February 25, 2010, the coroner released a report stating that Murphy had been taking a range of over-the-counter and prescription medications, with the most likely reason being to treat a cold or respiratory infection. These included "elevated levels" of hydrocodone, acetaminophen, L-methamphetamine, and chlorpheniramine. All of the drugs were legal and the death was ruled to be an accident, but the report observed: "the possible adverse physiological effects of elevated levels of these medications cannot be discounted, especially in her weakened state."
  On December 24, 2009, Murphy was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills.
  On May 23, 2010, her widower Simon Monjack was found dead at the same Hollywood Hills residence. In July 2010, Los Angeles Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter stated that the cause of his death was acute pneumonia and severe anemia. It was reported that the Los Angeles County Department of Health had considered toxic mold in their house as a possible cause of the deaths, but this was dismissed by Ed Winter, who stated that there were "no indicators" that mold was a factor. Murphy's mother Sharon described the reports of mold contributing to the deaths as "absurd" and went on to state that inspecting the home for mold was never requested by the Health Department.
  In December 2011, Sharon Murphy changed her stance, announcing that toxic mold was indeed what killed her daughter and son-in-law, and filed a lawsuit against the attorneys who represented her in an earlier suit against the builders of the home where her daughter and son-in-law died.
  On January 11, 2012, her father Angelo Bertolotti applied to the Superior Court of California requesting that the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office be required to hand over samples of his daughter's hair for independent testing. The suit was dismissed on July 19, 2012, after Bertolotti failed to attend two separate hearings.
  In November 2013, Angelo Bertolotti claimed that a toxicology report showed that deliberate poisoning by heavy metals, including antimony and barium, was a possible cause of Brittany Murphy's death. Sharon Murphy described the claim as "a smear".
caption: Grave of Brittany Murphy at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills
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