Brittany Murphy’s former co-star recalls the late actress looking “frail” and noticeably “going through a hard time” while filming her final movie, “Something Wicked,” before she died in 2009.
“She was just a little bird that you wanted to be around and you wanted to help,” Katie O’Grady told People Friday, which marked the 15th anniversary of the “Clueless” star’s untimely passing at age 32.
She further described Murphy as being so “petite” that she could be “scooped up with little effort.”
In fact, per O’Grady, the cast and crew were mindful of the “Girl, Interrupted” star’s physical and medical condition and tried to be “soft” with her while on set in Eugene, Ore.
The actress remembered Murphy, however, still being “so present and so loving,” pointing out when the late star told her, “I’m so glad I got to meet you,” before they parted ways one final time.
“It was such a kind and loving goodbye,” O’Grady said. “She made moments and she created moments with everybody that she met to the best of her ability that she could with the energy that she had.”
The “Rid of Me” star hypothesized that Murphy did not have the right support system around her.
“I just feel that she could have used somebody in her life that maybe was strong,” O’Grady said of the Brittany, who was married to Simon Monjack at the time and living with mom Sharon Murphy.
The “Management” star added about her pal’s spouse, “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.”
Leading up to Brittany’s death, there had been speculation that she suffered from an eating disorder and substance abuse issues, which Monjack shut down.
On Dec. 20, 2009, Brittany was found collapsed on her bathroom floor surrounded by drugs, including over-the-counter medications like cough syrup and some that had been prescribed to her for cramps.
Two months later, the Los Angeles coroner ruled that the “8 Mile” star’s cause of death was due to pneumonia and drug intoxication. He also noted “iron deficiency anemia” as a contribution.
However, after Monjack was found dead from the same cause of death as his movie star wife, questions arose as to whether there had been nefarious reasons behind both of their passings.
In 2013, Brittany’s father, Angelo Bertolotti — who has since died — requested an independent toxicology report that found the actress may have been poisoned as “ten of the heavy metals evaluated were detected at levels higher that the WHO [The World Health Organization] high levels.”
“My daughter was neither anorexic nor a drug junkie, as they repeatedly implied,” he said in a statement at the time. “I will not rest until the truth about these tragic events is told. There will be justice for Brittany.”
In 2019, Brittany’s half-brother Tony Bertollotti said that he, too, believed his sister had been killed.
“If you look at it from a distance, it’s like, here’s this young lady — a fairly healthy girl — she’s home with her supposed husband and mother, and she died,” he previously told the Daily Mail.
“How absurd is it? It’s only in Hollywood that it’s considered another day at the zoo. No one takes her to a hospital, which is just four miles away.”
No charges have been filed pertaining to either Brittany or Monjack’s deaths.
