Brittany Murphy Documentary: 'She Was In So Much Pain'

Amid reflection on the harsh Hollywood treatment of young 2000s celebrities including Britney Spears and Amanda Bynes comes What Happened, Brittany Murphy?, a two-part HBO Max docuseries examining the star’s sudden death in 2009 at the age of 32. Murphy's death was attributed to pneumonia, anemia, and intoxication with prescription and over-the-counter drugs, per People. It was followed months later by the death of Murphy’s screenwriter husband, 40-year-old Simon Monjack, from severe anemia and acute pneumonia, per CNN. Monjack gets plenty of attention in the docuseries, to be released Thursday, from which come these seven revelations:

1. Extreme weight loss: A Los Angeles County coroner who determined anemia to be a factor in Murphy’s death tells filmmakers that "to develop an anemia of this nature, she was not eating," per Rolling Stone. Makeup artist Trista Jordan, who worked with Murphy on 2009's Something Wicked, says "she had Bambi legs and couldn't stand up," "her eyes were so sunken," and "she was in so much pain," per People. The film notes the "cute" girl struggled to fit in in Hollywood, where women are expected to be drop-dead gorgeous.
2. Her husband: Simon Monjack comes off as the villain. The film claims he encouraged Murphy to lose weight and refused to take her to the doctor in her final days, after which the coroner allegedly found 90 prescription bottles at his bedside. Monjack is also accused of spending $3 million of Murphy's money over three years and secretly fathering two children with other women.

3. Complete control: The film suggests Monjack ruled Murphy's life as her agent, business manager, even her makeup artist. He reportedly separated her from friends, controlled her money, email account, and confiscated her phone.
4. Web of lies: It also claims Monjack conned a lot of people during his life. He allegedly falsely claimed he was billionaire with the world's largest collection of Vermeer paintings who'd dated Elle MacPherson and Madonna. He also allegedly claimed to have been cured of terminal brain cancer by a treatment derived from shark fins, according to the film.
5. Bed sharing: One of the weirder claims is that Monjack shared a home—and a bed—with Murphy’s mother following the actor’s death, per Rolling Stone. It was reportedly Murphy's mother who found Monjack's body in their shared home.

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6. She was kind: Director Cynthia Hill tells People that the tragedy has overshadowed Murphy's persona as a kind, caring person. "Everyone was so consistent when they would describe her," she says. "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."
7. Perez Hilton predicted her death: The gossip blogger, whose site regularly bashed celebrities in the early 2000s, tells filmmakers that he predicted Murphy would be the next celebrity to die during a 2009 radio interview, per Rolling Stone. "All these years later now, I regret saying that, putting that energy out there," he notes. "It's gross… but that's definitely telling of the time—2009, in many ways, was a very gross time."

(More Brittany Murphy stories.)