Inside Brittany Murphy's 'Hard Time' in the Months Before Her Death: She 'Deserved a Different Story' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Brittany Murphy arrives at the “Across the Hall” Premiere at the Laemmle Music Hall 3 on December 1, 2009 in Beverly Hills, California.Photo:Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic

Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic

One hot day in June 2009,Brittany Murphywas busy on set. The jail cell where she was filming was boiling, the crew was sweating, and the star wanted to make sure everyone had enough water. Six months later, Murphy was found dead in her home.

The 32-year-old was discovered passed out in the bathroom of thehome she sharedwith her British screenwriter husbandSimon Monjackand her mom Sharon, with her cause of death listed as pneumonia.

Costars from her final filmSomething Wickedrecall a frail star who was a shell of herself in those months prior to her untimely death 15 years ago.

“She was just a little bird that you wanted to be around and you wanted to help,” Katie O’Grady tells PEOPLE.

In her final days, theUptown Girlsstar had grown increasinglysick with flu-like symptoms. She passed out in her mom’s arms after telling her, “Mommy, I can’t catch my breath. Help me,” according toThe Hollywood Reporter.

Actress Brittany Murphy poses for portraits at Tt Collection Pop-Up Party on December 3, 2009 in Los Angeles, California.Michael Bezjian/WireImage

Michael Bezjian/WireImage

“She was really sick with pneumonia, very anemic, and she was taking medication, and all that combined killed her,” Coroner Asst. Chief Ed Winter told PEOPLE at the time. Five months later,Monjack died,his autopsy eerily similarto Murphy’s, listing anemia and pneumonia as the cause of death.

There had been alarming signs of Murphy’s mental and physical state on the set ofSomething Wicked, O’Grady recalls. The actress first met Murphy on set in Eugene, Oregon. She remembers her as being “frail” and noticeably “going through a hard time,” with the cast and crew generally getting the sense “to be soft around her.”

She was “petite” and so small she could be simply “scooped up” with little effort," says O’Grady.

“Her eyes were so sunken, and she just seemed so sad,“Something Wickedmakeup artist Trista Jordan said in the 2021 documentaryWhat Happened, Brittany Murphy?, now streaming on Max. “She wasn’t herself. She was in so much pain. She had Bambi legs and couldn’t stand up.”

O’Grady had noticedMurphy had limited energy. But what she did have, she put entirely into her work — and making sure others were okay.

“You could just feel a really deep kindness, a soft spirit about Brittany, that it made you just feel comfortable and soft,” she says.

Brittany Murphy in ‘Something Wicked’.Chambers Productions

Chambers Productions

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Despite an impressive résumé that included 1995’sClueless, 1999’sGirl, Interrupted, 2003’sJust Marriedand2004’sLittle Black Book, Murphy never acted like the famous star she was. Instead, she put her energy into making others feel special.

When a younger novice costar struggled with where to look during a close-up, Murphy took the time to teach her about eye lines, instructing her where to look depending on what side of her face the camera was on, O’Grady recalls.

In a separate instance, another costar October Moore remembers getting ready to shoot a dramatic, confrontational scene with Murphy. The nerves were building as the two sat opposite one another at a tall bistro table, and Moore couldn’t stop fidgeting with her slip-on shoes. Nervous, she looked up and met Murphy’s eye — and the actress winked. “Just take them off,” she whispered playfully.

“That was such a kindness from a seasoned professional to a very new actor,” Moore says. “She made me feel very comfortable and at ease and just had this kind of effervescent sweetness.”

When it came time to wrap the project, Murphy was using her last dredges of energy, says O’Grady, but she will never forget the “presence” of the starlet as she put her “little hand” in hers, telling her, “I’m so glad I got to meet you,” as they parted ways for the final time.

In her final years, Murphy lost a drastic amount of weight, with rumors — that she at one point denied — floating that she was struggling with an eating disorder. Murphy’s noticeable low energy had worried O’Grady.

O’Grady remembers Murphy having low physical and mental strength, lacking someone to properly support her. “I just feel that she could have used somebody in her life that maybe was strong.”

Simon Monjack and Brittany Murphy on March 19, 2008.John Shearer/WireImage

John Shearer/WireImage

Though she was known for her extremely close relationship with her mother, O’Grady and Moore say they never saw Sharon on set. Monjack, however, was constantly present and incredibly “protective” of Murphy, O’Grady says.

But O’Grady didn’t get the sense that his presence was a positive one. “We know when we meet somebody that’s not well, and an instant feeling of this woman needs to be protected, this woman needs strength, energy, support,” she says.

The movie eventually was released in 2014, but O’Grady and Moore remember the premiere as a somber occasion rather than celebratory. There was a “sense of sadness” among the cast, and O’Grady chose to forego ever seeing the film.

“She really deserved a different story. Her core is so good. Her spirit is so good,” she says. “That was not a person who was out in the world to hurt or make people feel small. That was not a woman who deserved that story. But that was her story and that was why she was here, and that was all that was meant to be.”

source: people.com