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On the 15-year anniversary of Brittany Murphy’s death, the actress’ co-stars are reflecting on her final days.
The 32-year-old was found passed out in the bathroom of the home she shared with her husband, Simon Monjack, and her mom, Sharon. Her cause of death was listed as pneumonia.
Murphy’s co-stars from her final movie, “Something Wicked,” detailed that in the months before her death, the star was “frail” and a shell of herself.
“She was just a little bird that you wanted to be around and you wanted to help,” actress Katie O’Grady told People in a story published on Friday.
The “Uptown Girls” alum became extremely sick with flu-like symptoms and passed out in her mom’s arms after telling her, “Mommy, I can’t catch my breath. Help me,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“She was really sick with pneumonia, very anemic, and she was taking medication, and all that combined killed her,” Coroner Asst. Chief Ed Winter told People at the time. Five months later, Monjack died, with the screenwriter’s autopsy showing symptoms similar to Murphy’s, listing anemia and pneumonia as the cause of death.
O’Grady recalled signs of Murphy’s mental and physical state being worrisome while filming on the set in Eugene, Oregon.
She remembers Murphy as “frail” and noticeably “going through a hard time,” with the cast and crew generally getting the sense “to be soft around her.”
She was “petite” and so small she could be simply “scooped up with little effort,” O’Grady said.
In her final years, Murphy lost a noticeable amount of weight, with rumors swirling that she was struggling with an eating disorder. Although she denied the accusations, Murphy’s drastic low energy worried O’Grady.
O’Grady remembers that the “Abandoned” vet had low physical and mental strength, lacking someone to properly support her. “I just feel that she could have used somebody in her life that maybe was strong.”
But despite her physical appearance, the “Clueless” alum was still kind to everyone on set.
“There was still some part of her so present and so loving to take the time to do that in such a soft way. It was such a kind and loving goodbye,” O’Grady told the outlet. “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.”
O’Grady continued, “She really deserved a different story. Her core is so good. Her spirit is so good. That was not a person who was out in the world to hurt or make people feel small. That was not a woman who deserved that story. But that was her story and that was why she was here, and that was all that was meant to be.”
Trista Jordan, who worked as a makeup artist in “Something Wicked,” had spoken about Murphy in the 2021 documentary “What Happened, Brittany Murphy?”
“Her eyes were so sunken, and she just seemed so sad,” the artist recalled. “She wasn’t herself. She was in so much pain. She had Bambi legs and couldn’t stand up.”
Anther co-star, October Moore, also remembered Murphy as a sweet soul.
“That was such a kindness from a seasoned professional to a very new actor,” Moore said. “She made me feel very comfortable and at ease and just had this kind of effervescent sweetness.”