The series goes \u201cbeyond the conspiracy theories and headlines\u201d surrounding her death while showing new archival footage. \u201cOur Brittany Murphy documentary cuts through the tabloid noise with an elevated, nuanced depiction of a sensational story,\u201d said Jennifer O\u2019Connell<\/strong>, EVP, Non-Fiction and Live-Action Family Programming, HBO Max, in a statement to Deadline<\/em>. \u201cCrafting a grounded account of Brittany Murphy\u2019s life struggles and sudden passing comes with great responsibility and we\u2019ve partnered with a masterful creative team to produce a thoughtful examination of a tragedy that has long been cause for speculation.\u201d<\/p>\n Though Brittany died of pneumonia, she was dogged by rumors of drug use and eating disorders in the lead-up to her death, which only muddied the nature surrounding her untimely passing, and the documentary explores some of the questions. In the two-part doc, the key players involved in investigating her death explain how pneumonia and anemia were lethal in this instance, putting those conspiracy theories of foul play to bed once and for all.<\/p>\n Brittany Anne Murphy-Monjack died on December 20, 2009. The young actress had collapsed in the bathroom of her Hollywood Hills mansion around 8 a.m., according to The Hollywood Reporter<\/em><\/a>\u2019s detailed account of her final hours. The Clueless <\/em>star was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, but it was all in vain. She was pronounced dead at 10:04 am, according to The New York Times<\/em><\/a>. At first, an assistant chief coroner for Los Angeles County said that her cause of death \u201cappears to be natural,\u201d but no more information was immediately available. An autopsy was performed a day after she died, and her death certificate listed her cause of death as \u201cdeferred.\u201d<\/p>\n At the time of Murphy\u2019s death, the actress was actually taking care of her mother, Sharon Murphy<\/strong>, and her husband, Simon Monjack. <\/strong>Sharon, a breast cancer survivor, was suffering a debilitating neuropathy, according to The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>\u2019s detailed account of Brittany\u2019s last day. Simon \u2013 a screenwriter who had been suffering seizures for nearly a year before Brittany\u2019s death \u2013 was recuperating from suffering an apparent heart attack a month earlier.<\/p>\n Leading up to the actress’s death, her makeup artist\u00a0Trista Jordan<\/strong> noticed that something was wrong with Brittany. “Her eyes were so sunken, and she just seemed so sad,” Trista told\u00a0People\u00a0<\/em>in October 2021. “She wasn’t herself. She was in so much pain. She had Bambi legs and couldn’t stand up.”<\/p>\n Around 3 a.m., Brittany woke and made her way to her bedroom\u2019s balcony. Simon, at his wife\u2019s request, phoned her mother to check on the actress. \u00a0\u201cShe was lying on the patio trying to catch her breath,\u201d Sharon told The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>. \u201cI said, \u2018Baby, get up.\u2019 She said: \u2018Mommy, I can\u2019t catch my breath. Help me. Help me.\u2019\u201d Simon recalled his wife\u2019s panicked pleas. \u201cShe said to her mom: \u2018I\u2019m dying. I\u2019m going to die. Mommy, I love you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n At first, Simon and Sharon didn\u2019t take Brittany’s “dying” claims seriously. \u201cShe was always so dramatic,\u201d Sharon said to THR<\/em>. \u201cI\u2019ve replayed that so many times. She asked if she could use the oxygen, but Simon said her heart could stop with oxygen, and anyway, he then had another seizure, a long, horrific seizure.\u201d She made her daughter hot tea with ginger and lemon, but at 8 a.m., Brittany collapsed in her bathroom. 911 was called, and Brittany was rushed to the hospital where she would sadly die.<\/p>\n It would take a few months before the mystery around Brittany\u2019s tragic death was solved. Amid speculation of foul play and a potential overdose, the Los Angeles County Coroner\u2019s office issued a statement on Feb. 4, 2010, stating that Brittany died of \u201ccommunity-acquired pneumonia,\u201d with \u201ccontributing factors of iron deficiency anemia\u201d and multiple drug intoxication, per The New York Times<\/em><\/a>. A spokesperson for the office said that the drugs were all prescription drugs but didn\u2019t specify what they were. She reportedly contracted the flu while filming The Caller<\/em>, a low-budget thriller, in Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n Simon also died from acute pneumonia and anemia, a mere five months after Brittany\u2019s death. This only added to the speculation that Brittany’s death resulted from foul play. In 2013, Brittany\u2019s father, Angelo Bertolotti<\/strong>, had his daughter\u2019s hair, blood, and tissue tested by an independent company. This toxicology report, by toxicologist Ernest Lykissa<\/strong>, claimed Brittany had high concentrations of ten heavy metals in her system, per CNN<\/a>. Lykissa wrote that \u201cthe only logical explanation would be an exposure to these metals (toxins) administered by a third party perpetrator with likely criminal intent,\u201d but Dr. Bruce Goldberg, <\/strong>the then-director of forensic medicine at the University of Florida, dismissed the report as \u201cridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n Concluding that Brittany was allegedly poisoned is an \u201cinflammatory statement\u201d that \u201cis a baseless allegation and outrageous statement to make based on a single hair test,\u201d Dr. Goldberg told CNN. Brittany\u2019s autopsy showed no signs of poisoning, and a \u201chair test alone, without any clinical signs or symptoms, cannot be used to establish poisoning.\u201d<\/p>\n Brittany was buried at the Forest Lawn cemetery in Hollywood Hills.<\/p>\n Ever since Brittany’s tragic death in 2009 at just 32, people have wondered whether foul play was involved. Fans have even gone so far as to claim she could have been murdered. In the HBO Max documentary What Happened, Brittany Murphy?<\/em>, key figures in Brittany’s case explain how her death happened.<\/p>\n “The cause of death is not a mystery. The mystery is why didn’t somebody catch it. Had they taken her to the doctor a few days before she’d still be alive,” Ed Winter<\/strong>, the former Assistant Chief to the LA County Department of Coroner, said in the documentary. Ed was the coroner involved in Brittany’s case.<\/p>\n Dr. Lisa Scheinin<\/strong>, the deputy medical examiner who conducted Brittany’s autopsy, explained in the documentary why there’s not any mystery as to the actress’ cause of death. Dr. Scheinin noted that Brittany’s hemoglobin level was 3.0, which meant she was a “very anemic person.” With that hemoglobin level, she also said that any decent doctor would have had Brittany in the ER “hooked up to a transfusion as quickly as they possibly could because this is a life-threatening situation.”<\/p>\n She also did a test on Brittany’s lungs to see if they floated in water, which is what they’re supposed to do. She took a section from every lobe of the lung. Three of the sections sank, which meant Brittany had “severe pneumonia.” Brittany’s toxicology report showed no evidence of alcohol or any drugs of abuse, but she did have prescription and OTC meds in her system.<\/p>\n “The anemia itself would have been fatal even without the pneumonia,” Dr. Scheinin explained. “The pneumonia was fatal, and then you’re adding this to the equation (the prescription and OTC meds). This could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.”<\/p>\n She added, “If she had gotten to a hospital earlier enough, you can detect pneumonia on a chest X-ray. It’s very easy to do. They could have possibly started treatment, but she would have had a chance.”<\/p>\n Dr. Cyril Wecht<\/strong>, a forensic pathologist, also shut down any question of possible foul play. There’s no question in my mind about the cause of death,” he said. “This is a 32-year-old woman. I don’t know the bankroll of her and her husband, but I assumed that they had money. And yet they lived as if they were peasants in squalor. To develop an anemia of this nature, she was not eating.”<\/p>\n As an actress, Brittany Murphy got her start when she was a teen. The 13-year-old Brittany landed her first recurring role in the 1991 short-lived sitcom, Drexell\u2019s Class<\/em>. From there, Brittany appeared on a handful of classic \u201890s TV shows like Parker Lewis Can\u2019t Lose, Blossom, Sister, Sister, Party Of Five, <\/em>and Boy Meets World<\/em>. Her breakthrough came on the silver screen when she starred opposite Alicia Silverstone <\/strong><\/a>in Clueless<\/em>.<\/p>\n Brittany\u2019s career took off after that, and she landed roles in Freeway <\/em>(with Reese Witherspoon <\/strong><\/a>and Keifer Sutherland<\/strong>), Girl, Interrupted <\/em>(with Angelina Jolie <\/strong><\/a>and Winona Ryder<\/strong><\/a>), and Drop Dead Gorgeous <\/em>(with Kirsten Dunst<\/strong>, Allison Janney<\/strong>, and Amy Adams<\/strong>.) Brittany also voiced the character of Luanne on the beloved animated sitcom King of the Hill<\/em>.<\/p>\n In the 2000s, Brittany\u2019s career continued to climb with featured roles in 8 Mile<\/em>, Sin City<\/em>, and Just Married<\/em>, with Ashton Kutcher<\/strong><\/a>. She and Ashton dated for six months after the film. Unfortunately, her career slowed, and she was dogged by allegations of illegal drug use and eating disorders, per The Independent<\/em><\/a>. She said in 2005 that reports of her using cocaine were \u201cpretty darned far-fetched.\u201d \u201cI am also way too high-strung. I can’t even take a Sudafed. Can you imagine? My God. I think my heart would explode. I mean, literally.\u201d<\/p>\n She had been diagnosed with a heart murmur in her early teens, so Brittany knew that using any illegal substances would put her life at risk. Despite this, reports of illegal drug use and being \u201cdifficult\u201d to work with appeared throughout her career. Ultimately, Brittany\u2019s last roles were posthumous appearances in 2010\u2019s Abandoned<\/em> and 2014\u2019s Something Wicked<\/em>.<\/p>\n In addition to her marriage with Simon Monjack and short courtship with Ashton Kutcher, Brittany was briefly engaged with talent manager Jeff Kwatinetz<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Ahead of the HBOMax documentary’s release, director\u00a0Cynthia Hill<\/strong> reflected on the fact that the actress was “loved by everyone,” as those close to her remembered her. “She was so generous, caring and always thinking about everybody else and I think sometimes that gets forgotten because of all the mystery surrounding her death,” she told\u00a0People<\/em>.<\/p>\n Brittany\u2019s death was mourned by many of her friends and former coworkers. \u201cToday, the world lost a little piece of sunshine,” Ashton Kutcher tweeted at the time. “My deepest condolences go out to Brittany’s family, her husband, and her amazing mother, Sharon. See you on the other side, kid.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBrittney Murphy and I did a USO Tour together in 2003,\u201d tweeted Alyssa Milano<\/strong><\/a>, per Access Hollywood<\/a>.<\/em> \u201cShe was a sweet soul, with a lot of talent and heart.\u201d Lindsay Lohan <\/strong><\/a>also tweeted her deepest condolences to \u201call of Brittany Murphy\u2019s loved ones& may she rest in peace\u2026 She was a great talent w\/a beautiful soul xo.\u201d Whoopi Goldberg<\/strong><\/a>, who appeared in Girl, Interrupted <\/em>with Brittany, said, <\/em>\u201cIt is a terrible loss for us as actors and to the industry but even greater for her family. My thoughts and prayers are with them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBrittany Murphy was like no other,\u201d Kathy Najimy<\/strong>, Brittany\u2019s co-star on King of the Hill<\/em>, said in a statement. \u201cA bright light. Never a mean or judgmental word, wildly fun, silly, loyal friend. Sweet, funny, smart, unbelievably talented actress and singer. Brilliant, moving body of work. I was lucky enough to know, love, and work with her for 15 years. Love to her family and the many many people who adored her and were touched by her. We hope that in honor of her life and in the reflection of her glorious light, the pressures that girls and women face will fade. Her spirit still soars.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBrittany Murphy was an incredible ray of Light to so many people. Her smile was contagious,\u201d tweeted Jessica Simpson<\/strong><\/a>. \u201cMy prayers are with her family and loved ones.\u201d \u201cWow, I am shocked about the news! RIP Brittany Murphy. My heart goes out to you and your family,\u201d Dancing with the Stars\u2019<\/em>\u00a0Cheryl Burke <\/strong>tweeted.<\/p>\nHow Brittany Murphy Passed Away<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Was Brittany Murphy Murdered?\u00a0<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n
Brittany Murphy: How She Rose To Fame<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Family, Friends, Co-Workers & Fans: The Reaction To Brittany’s Death<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n
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