14 DAY TRIAL // Brittany Murphy, 32, collapsed in her bathroom and went into full cardiac arrest on Sunday morning. She could not be revived and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Speaking for the first time about his loss, husband Simon Monjack reveals that the star had been unwell, as E! Online can confirm.
An autopsy was performed but it could not establish the exact cause of death, that is, what made her heart stop. All allegations of drug use and anorexia as factors in the tragedy will be cleared up once toxicology results are in, which should be another 4 to 6 weeks. However, there are indications that Murphy was ill before that, as her husband confirms in a recent interview.
“Sharon [her mother] went into the bathroom because she had been in there a long time. Her mom screamed for me and I ran. Then called 911. My world was destroyed yesterday. She had laryngitis. She had been tired at the end of the year. She had made a couple movies,” Monjack says for the media. He also says Sunday began as a regular day and that Brittany did not complain of more pain or suffering than usual.
In the same interview, the star’s husband also hits back at allegations that his presence in her life may have had a negative impact on her health. “I don’t know why anyone would think that. She found love. We found love. Brittany didn’t get to where Brittany was with anyone controlling her. Brittany was Brittany,” he says. He also thanks fans and celebrity friends who have been showering him with attention and offering support during this trying moments.
Ashton Kutcher, now married to Demi Moore but a former co-star and boyfriend of Brittany’s, was among the first to express his regret at such a loss. The actor took to Twitter to say that, with Murphy’s death, the world had lost a “little piece of sunshine.” He was not alone either: Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Simpson, Kim Kardashian, Juliette Lewis and many others who knew and worked with Brittany, took to Twitter to pay their respect.