Here’s why the strange death of Brittany Murphy still haunts us

A bright, beautiful actress loses her life too early to drugs. We’ve heard this story a thousand times, so when we heard Brittany Murphy passed away due to a drug overdose, we mourned, but never questioned it. 

But years later, her half-brother Tony Bertolotti is still trying to reach out to people to make them reexamine her death. He points that only five months after Murphy, her husband Simon Monjack passed away in a similar manner. Coincidence?

Plagued by drug abuse

It could be, as Murphy was, at least in the eyes of the public, a cocaine and heroin user. Though these rumors were never confirmed by her or her staff. The coroner ruled both her and Monjack’s deaths accidental, claiming the cause was pneumonia, anaemia, and drug intoxication.

On record, a make-up artist who worked with Murphy on multiple occasions claimed she was like a “space cadet” because of the amount of drugs she was on. Constantly, people said she had “too many drugs and not enough food”, so no one questioned that she went overboard.

Monjack’s shady past

But Bertolotti believes she was taken down in relation to Monjack and his bad business. Nicknamed “Conjack”, Monjack had spent time in jail for his deals, and was rumored to have six figure debts over his head. This left him facing deportation, and needing a reason to stay in Hollywood.

While he doesn’t know for certain, Bertolotti agrees that Monjack and Murphy got married to get him a permanent visa. Claiming it “goes back to the money”, the two stayed together to help fund Monjack’s debts, but Bertolotti believes that he was still doing messy deals, and that was what led to Murphy and Monjack’s deaths. 

Father Murphy tries for answers

Bertolotti isn’t the only person related to Murphy that believes she was murdered. Her father Angelo Bertolotti ordered an independent toxicology report on Murphy in 2013. The report came back showing high levels of toxic metals, including some used in rat poison, in her hair.

Though Bertolotti never did anything with the report, and passed away in January 2019, he never let the fight go. His son said that “until his dying day, he was obsessed with finding out what happened.”

Her mother, Sharon, had a different opinion. More specifically, she refuted the report, stating that a million factors can affect a hair sample, and the report showing the metal means nothing. She also claims that Angelo only cares about her money and career, even if that leaves a dark spot on her memory. 

Tony Bertolotti is still hoping someone will uncover a secret that will prove him and his father’s work was for nothing. For now, he feels that he’s done all he can, and he’s too old to keep searching. 

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