Brittany Murphy, who would have turned 40 last month, died 8 years ago today, December 20. While this post
will touch up on her death for the sake of context, the main focus will be her life: her own personal 'clueless' moments, the men who have come and gone, the women who have stayed, and much more. ♡
"I’ve done many videos of the Metuchen Country Fair in New Jersey. The most memorable moment was when this little girl, Brittany Murphy, who came up to Ryk Schoonhiem in this Oct. 20th, 1990 clip and asked him “Would you like a children’s perspective?” She had so much life and energy that I told Ryk to hand the mic over to her. This video was taken before she became a famous Television star. Wouldn’t TMZ love to get their hands on this tape. Google her name and see for yourself how much of a name she made for herself. You’ll see her multiple times on the David Letterman Show. Same happy bubbly personality. May her soul rest in peace."—Carl K. Sylvester
Brittany Murphy's Clueless Moments![]()
“When I went to the Clueless premiere, I didn’t know about stylists, so I got my own dress and wore red lipstick because I thought it was glamorous. It wore off in two seconds.” —Brittany Murphy (Cosmopolitan, September 2004 issue)
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Brittany presented an award at the 2013 Independent Spirit Awards, where she had a 102° fever and her co-presenter had called in sick. On top of that? The teleprompter broke.
"It was just awful. I remember at one point I looked at Halle Berry like, 'what do I do? Save me!' I started telling jokes: 'two peanuts are walking down the street in Manhattan—one's assaulted.'"—Brittany Murphy (Seventeen Magazine, September 2003)
From A Virgin Who Can't Drive to Hollywood Sex Symbol![]()
Jane Magazine writes in an article,
"people generally remember Tai as having a waist as thick as her Jersey accent, but she was actually pretty small. It's just that the character wore unflattering clothes.""Since 'Clueless', the only thing different is that my teeth are shorter because I had them bonded. I've never even told anybody about that. But you know, I've always metamorphosized, from changing my eyebrows to changing my hairline-shape. [...] I have broken my nose three times, though. But I've never gotten it fixed. I know that changed the shape of it, but it made it wider. When you break your nose, you can actually move it back into place, unless it's shattered. So any time I've broken my nose, I've moved it back into place myself."—Brittany Murphy (Jane Magazine,
April 2005)
In later years, Brittany Murphy did lose quite a bit of weight (reportedly due to being self-conscious about her 5'3" height, wanting to be thinner to appear taller on screen), got lip injections, and either breast implants or a lift. Her thinner frame and quirky personality (new to those just discovering her, despite evidence showing she has been bubbly since childhood) lead to multiple rumours of a cocaine addiction, to which Brittany responded,
"for the record, I've never tried cocaine in my entire life."![]()
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Brittany would eventually go back to her brunette roots after filming
Love and Other Disasters.
It was for a film role, actually. It was for a role and I decided to keep it. It was a keeper, I really - I just, I feel more like myself. Time for a change.
Since then, she went back and forth from blonde to brunette, but her last days were spent in darker hair.
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Speaking of Love and Other Disasters...Her most publicized relationship was with Ashton Kutcher. They started dating during the filming of
Just Married in 2003, but it admittedly didn't last very long. Ashton Kutcher has said that he saw Brittany two months before her death at a casting for a role he wanted to see her in, but the two didn't remain close after their break-up.
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"She was like the person who walked in the room and she was always the first person to dance. You know when you go to a party and everybody is standing around, and the music is going — and you know sooner or later everyone is going to dance. She was always the first person to dance. And I just try to connect to that and celebrate who she was and how she was, and not make sense of [her death], 'cause there is no sense of making sense of it."—Ashton Kutcher
Brittany herself described their relationship as, "well, watch
Just Married and take away the happy ending. Our relationship wasn't too different from that."
Kutcher posted about Brittany Murphy on Twitter on the day of her death:
Before Ashton, however, Brittany Murphy cozied up to another co-star from another film,
8 Mile; Eminem, who taught Brittany Murphy how to give the middle finger. While the two weren't in any confirmed relationship,
Brittany awkwardly and hilariously let it slip on Letterman that the two did have a fling (starts at 3:33)
Sadly, having an absent father who was in prison for 12 years of her life anyway, Brittany's flop taste in men didn't begin and end with Eminem.
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Her husband, Simon Monjack, was the eclipse to Brittany's light. He passed 5 months after Brittany Murphy from the exact same cause that took her: pneumonia.
Simon Monjack was a conman who took advantage of the juvenile package that was Brittany Murphy. Alex Ben Block (friend of Brittany Murphy) writes:
It was wonderful that Brittany never lost her childlike innocence and sense of wonder, or that infectious giggle. But what worked for her as an actress made for a troubled life: She never learned to drive or balance her own checkbook. She looked to her mother, business managers and finally Simon to care for her. It was the need for a father — her biological father was rarely part of her life — mentor, teacher and anchor that led her to Simon.
- TW: drug use ahead -Brittany Murphy lacked a higher education and often looked to Simon for his 'expert' opinions. Unfortunately, this included prescription drugs. It is believed that Simon advised Brittany to doctor shop and keep a low, nearly-anonymous profile on their prescription purchases. She became reliant on prescription drugs to cope with her many physical illnesses, and Simon's 'words of wisdom' left her as paranoid as he was.
Simon had created a web of paranoia around Brittany and used it to separate her from anyone who might have challenged his dominance.
L.A. clinical psychologist and attorney, Rex Beaber, called what happened to Brittany in reference to Simon Monjack,
"an age-old story you see commonly with people who meet narcissistic personalities and people who are sociopathic. They have a kind of blood instinct for the weakness of people around them."Girls Are a Girl's Best FriendBrittany Murphy was nothing if not a girls' girl. She never had a falling out with any of her woman companions, never gave the tabloids any 'catfight' fuel, nor was she ever (publicly) done wrong by a woman.
So here's a shout-out to some lovely ladies that touched Brittany's heart in ways a man never could.
Special Mention: Winona RyderWinona wearing a belt that says "MURPHY".
"I can't watch the movie now because of Brittany Murphy. She kills herself in the movie. I was very close to her before she died."
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"[Filming 'Girl, Interrupted'] was sort of wonderful. I liked working with everybody; forget the fact that it was all actresses and all women — which is inspiring in the fact that there was a script that had so many amazing roles for young women — they were extraordinary artists and extraordinary humans, so I learned a lot about them in a humane manner and I learned a lot about them, on camera, in an artistic manner on all the counts that can't possibly be wrong. It was fantastic!"—Brittany Murphy interviewed at the 'Girl, Interrupted' premiere
End Credits SongBrittany's first single, Faster Kill Pussycat
Somebody To Love cover for Happy Feet
Nobody Does It Better cover for Little Black Book
Performing with the Pussycat Dolls at Roxy Theater
OP's personal favourite; I Got You Babe (starts at 1:33, but you should just watch the entire scene anyway)
Sources:
Metuchen on the Air,
Guest on Jay Leno,
Ashton Kutcher on Brittany Murphy,
Ashton Kutcher Tweets:1,
2,
Guest on David Letterman,
The Final Difficult Days of Brittany Murphy by Alex Ben Block,
Brittany Murphy and Winona Ryder candids,
Winona Ryder FemaleFirst,
Winona Ryder and Brittany Murphy kiss,
Girl, Interrupted Premiere♫Faster Kill Pussycat,
Somebody To Love,
Little Black Book,
PCD,
Riding In Cars With Boys
