1895 Rising Glen Rd, Los Angeles, CA 90069
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Author: Jewls Krueger
On the morning of December 20, 2009, 32 year old actress Brittany Murphy was found unresponsive in the bathroom of her Hollywood Hills home and pronounced dead a short time later. Just five months later, on May 23, 2010, her 40 year old husband, screenwriter Simon Monjack, was also found dead inside the same home.
The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office ruled both deaths the result of natural causes complicated by drugs, but the unusual circumstances and identical setting have continued to spark conspiracy theories for more than 15 years.
Brittany Anne Bertolotti was born November 10, 1977 in Atlanta, Georgia, and was raised primarily in Edison, New Jersey by her mother Sharon Murphy. She moved to Los Angeles as a teenager and broke into film with a memorable role as Tai in the 1995 hit "Clueless." Throughout the late 1990s and 2000s, she appeared in films including "Girl, Interrupted," "Don't Say a Word," "8 Mile," "Just Married," "Sin City," and "Happy Feet," where she voiced the character Gloria.
Brittany Murphy in December 2006 - Creative Commons: Rob & Jules
Simon Monjack was a British screenwriter and director born May 9, 1970 in London. He had a modest career in independent film and screenwriting in the U.K. and U.S., with credits including writing and directing the 2003 film "Two Days, Nine Lives." He met Murphy in 2006 while she was filming in London. The two married in a small ceremony in May 2007.
By 2009, Murphy's career had slowed considerably. Several film projects had been cancelled or recast, and she had been let go from the production of the film "The Caller" just weeks before her death. Murphy, Monjack, and Murphy's mother Sharon all lived together in the home.
In 2003, Murphy purchased a French Norman style mansion on Rising Glen Road in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. The home had been built in 1933 and was previously owned by Britney Spears, who had sold it to Murphy.
Set on a quiet, winding street just north of the Sunset Strip, the home sat behind a security gate and featured roughly 8,300 square feet of living space, five bedrooms, six bathrooms, a pool, and city views.
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On the morning of December 20, 2009, Brittany Murphy collapsed in the bathroom of the master suite. Her mother Sharon and her husband Simon Monjack called 911. Paramedics arrived and transported Murphy to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 10:04 a.m.
The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office completed the official autopsy in February 2010. The cause of death was ruled to be pneumonia, with iron deficiency anemia and "multiple drug intoxication" as contributing factors. The drugs listed included a combination of over the counter and prescription medications, including hydrocodone, acetaminophen, and chlorpheniramine, which the coroner found Murphy had been taking to treat a respiratory infection in the days before her death. The manner of death was officially ruled an accident.
Further Reading
In the weeks and months that followed, Monjack remained in the home with Sharon Murphy and gave a string of public interviews defending his late wife and disputing the coroner's findings. On the evening of May 23, 2010, exactly five months and three days after Brittany's death, Sharon Murphy found Monjack unresponsive in a bedroom of the same home. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The L.A. County Coroner's Office determined that Monjack had also died of acute pneumonia, with severe anemia listed as a contributing factor. As with his wife, his death was ruled to be from natural causes.
The fact that two relatively young people died of the same combination of pneumonia and anemia in the same home within five months understandably raised suspicion. Several theories emerged in the years that followed.
In 2011, the Los Angeles Department of Public Health investigated and dismissed the idea that toxic mold in the home was responsible. In 2013, Brittany's father Angelo Bertolotti, who was estranged from her at the time of her death, commissioned an independent toxicology test of a hair sample, which he claimed showed unusually high levels of heavy metals consistent with poisoning. The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office and most independent experts disputed the test's reliability, citing the possibility of external contamination from hair products, environmental exposure, or the embalming process.
In 2021, a two part HBO documentary titled "What Happened, Brittany Murphy?" revisited the deaths and explored Monjack's history of unpaid debts, fraud allegations, and a possible pattern of controlling behavior, but it did not produce evidence of foul play. No criminal investigation into either death has ever been opened, and both deaths remain officially classified as natural causes complicated by accidental drug intoxication.
The home at 1895 Rising Glen Road in the Hollywood Hills was sold by Sharon Murphy in late 2011 for approximately $2.7 million. It has changed hands several times since, with the property undergoing significant renovations. The home no longer resembles the home where Brittany Murphy and Simon Monjack lived and died.
The home sits on a private, gated lot at the end of a narrow, winding residential street and is not visible from the road. Please be respectful of the current owners and the surrounding neighborhood, stay on public roads at all times, and do not trespass under any circumstances.
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