‘What Happened, Brittany Murphy?’ New Doc Investigates Star’s Mysterious Death

Premiering October 14, on HBO Max, ‘What happened Brittany Murphy’ aims to become an intimate character portrait of Brittany, the promising star. The new, two-part documentary aims to go beyond the headlines to delve deeper into the mysterious circumstances surrounding her death and looks closely at her troubled relationship with Monjack.

Murphy co-starred in highly successful films such as the acclaimed ‘Girl Interrupted’ and ‘Uptown Girls.’ However, the star became one of Hollywood’s darkest tragedies as Brittany was pronounced dead at just 32.

The documentary traces Britney’s early successes, and self-esteem issues whilst also delving deeper into the mysterious circumstances around her sudden, puzzling death.

The skilled documentarian Cynthia Hill weaves together a story featuring home-movie footage of a young and adorable Brittany, clips from her various movies, the occasional re-enactment, and interviews with reporters who covered Murphy’s death.

Murphy’s breakout role came in the coming-age classic ‘Clueless’ where she played Alicia Silverstone’s hilarious sidekick Tai but also was praised for her roles in films such as ‘8 Mile’ and ‘Sin City.’ Whilst becoming a rising star in Hollywood, Murphy also had high-profile romances with Eminem and her ‘Just Married’ co-star Ashton Kutcher.

It wasn’t until after her passing that the public realized Brittany’s future may have been dimmed by her relationship with Simon Monjack, a British screenwriter, who had money problems, and sketchy past romances. The documentary places the bulk of the blame on the aspiring filmmaker who is described as a prolific charmer and con-man who had a troubled relationship with the law and immigration officials.

For the family and friends in this new documentary, it was a toxic relationship that contributed to her tragic end. Friends and acquaintances of Murphy were shocked at how fast-paced their relationship was and how eager Brittany was to settle down quickly. Co-star Kathy Najimy reveals in the doc:

“She wanted to marry him and I said, Honey, it’s not been long enough.”

Monjack allegedly kept Murphy away from her friends and loved ones. Friends and colleagues repeatedly described him as controlling. There have been rumours of his obsession with skeletal, skinny woman.

During her rise to fame, Murphy become noticeably frailer in appearance from her Clueless days where her features were more rounded:

Brittany became increasingly thin in appearance. Monjack allegedly encouraged her throughout their marriage to get plastic surgery and lose even more weight.

To develop anemia of Murphy’s nature, the coroner contended she was not eating or looking after herself. Brittany’s grave condition was allowed to foster and instead of being given help, Brittany’s blood count had become dangerously low.

The doc also touches on Murphy’s downfall in the late 2000s. Murphy was doing a Lifetime movie and low-budget thrillers. Two days into production on the supernatural horror ‘The Caller’ in 2009 she was suddenly replaced. Murphy’s thriving career had slowed as Monjack had allegedly made Brittany difficult to work with for filmmakers.

Murphy collapsed in her bathroom in 2009 and died after going into cardiac arrest. Her cause of death was listed as pneumonia with secondary factors of iron deficiency anemia. Just five months later Monjack died of the same causes in the same Los Angeles home.

Conspiracy theories have abounded. Murphy’s father claims his daughter had been poisoned. Elizabeth Ragland who was engaged to Monjack previously insists that he had also refused to give her medical help when she needed it. Ragland thinks Monjack might have preferred death over the truth being revealed.

She said:

“He would rather be dead than be discovered as the con artist he was.”

To this day conspiracy theories have questioned what really happened to Brittany Murphy’s tragically sad case. For now, there appears to be no hard evidence to refute the official findings of the coroner.

We do know for certain that Brittany was gone far, far too soon. It does seem inevitable that the circumstances of her death at a young age will always be a part of her legacy. However, the world has been forced to re-examine its treatment of Spears  and Hilton -and Murphy deserves the same level of compassion.

 It’s important to celebrate Brittany’s brilliant talent on screen as we struggle to explain the tragic circumstances of her death.

Similar to Brittany’s experiences in Hollywood there is a darker side to this supermodel’s fairytale career.  Have a read at this article.