Friday marks the 10th anniversary of the loss of one of the brightest rising stars in Hollywood, Brittany Murphy.
The acclaimed actress was just 32 years old, still in the first part of her journey when she was taken from us by…
Well, that is actually still in contention — especially by some of her family.
As you may recall, Brittany reportedly collapsed in the bathroom her Beverly Hills home and was taken to the hospital where she died.
Related: People Think Lili Reinhart Is Brittany Murphy Reincarnated??
Officially, Los Angeles coroner Ed Winter ruled her mysterious death was caused by a number of things: pneumonia, anemia, and drug intoxication — thanks to a mix of dozens of prescription and over-the-counter pills in her system.
But that doesn’t explain how her husband died under extremely similar circumstances just five months later. His death led to a theory they both died from exposure to toxic black mold in the home, something Brittany’s mother, Sharon Murphy — who also lived in the house — even filed a lawsuit over.
Winter dismissed this idea, blaming the couple’s lifestyle choices for their fates.
Brittany’s half-brother, Tony Bertolotti, is not convinced. He unleashed to DailyMail.com on the anniversary of her death, saying:
“I spent years looking at this, suppressing my own anger. I think Brittany was taken out. Who killed Brittany? She didn’t die of natural causes.”
Wow. That is some gauntlet to throw down.
He also doesn’t buy drugs being a factor despite how much was found in her system:
“I don’t believe the drugs line that much, I don’t buy it. I’m sure there was experimentation. But Brittany was conservative with that stuff, she was a bright girl.”
No, Tony thinks it was foul play:
“Then there’s the fan club that something nasty happened to Brittany and I believe it with all my heart.”
So what does he think happened?
Well, he definitely thinks it had more to do with Brittany’s husband, Simon Monjack. The failed screenwriter had a sketchy history, was known to have six-figure debts, and had spent time behind bars. He was apparently nearly deported before the marriage.
Tony thinks maybe Monjack had gotten involved in something, perhaps owing money to the wrong people:
“I don’t know what business decisions they were making at that time, but [the deaths] sound business-related to me. I’ve heard all sorts of crap, so what is true?”
His big accusation against Monjack? He doesn’t even think he was really Brittany’s man!
“I believe Monjack knew what happened to Brit. I don’t think Brittany and Monjack were man and wife. I think Monjack was shacked up with Sharon. They were sharing a bed when Brittany passed away.”
WHUT???
“I heard that Monjack and Brittany was a marriage of circumstance as he was trying to stay in the States. Whenever I spoke to Brittany, she just brushed the Monjack thing off. She practically told us that it was that kind of situation. I believe they kept him in the States, he had a better chance of staying if they say he’s with Brittany.”
Wow.
Tony says he takes a “follow the money” philosophy on it, an investigative mantra that works most of the time. So what money are we talking about in Brittany’s case? Bertolotti explains:
“You have to go back to the money. Jimmy Hendrix died, but the money kept flowing for many, many years afterwards. Sometimes an actress is worth more dead than alive.
You’ve got to look at who’s collecting the money now? I don’t know. Every time the movie comes on, someone is getting paid. Whoever’s got the money knows the truth.
There was a group of at least 15 to 30 people around Brittany, and you tell me that no one knows nothing? Are you kidding? If I had the money to properly investigate her death, I’d go round all of them, but they wouldn’t speak to me.”
Tony is picking up the baton from his and Brittany’s late father, Angelo Bertolotti, who also didn’t buy the official story:
“My father was up to it like a hound dog, but then got sick and had a stroke. ‘Til his dying day he was obsessed with finding out what happened. He went up to a bunch of these people, but no one would talk to him. We couldn’t find out anything. What’s it all tell you? The thing is locked down.”
Angelo believed Brittany was poisoned. He even hired a private lab to test her hair in 2013 and found “abnormally high” levels of heavy metals.
However, the coroner chose not to reopen the case, saying at the time:
“[The levels] weren’t off the charts, and the levels weren’t consistent with poison. We could have reopened the case, but we didn’t think it warranted it.”
He said in order to reopen the case, they would have needed something HUGE:
“We would have to have direct evidence. In all honesty, it would take something like a confession. Something connecting somebody with it.”
Well, that’s unlikely to ever happen.
Tony says it won’t be him who uncovers the truth, that he’s too old. He admits:
“I have no proof of anything. If I did, I would have blown it off ten years.”
What do YOU think? Was it mold? Foul play? Or do people just need to find a reason for something so tragic as the death of a beloved talent?
[Image via Patricia Schlein/WENN.]
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