Clueless star Elisa Donovan says she ‘wasn’t surprised’ by Brittany Murphy’s death: ‘She was not healthy’; suspected eating disorder, drug problems
Elisa Donovan, who starred alongside Brittany Murphy in the 1995 cult classic Clueless, has opened up about her former co-star’s death, saying she “wasn’t surprised” when she learned that Murphy had died in 2009.During an appearance on the Still Here Hollywood podcast this week, Donovan recalled receiving a phone call from a friend informing her about Murphy’s death. The actress said her immediate reaction was that she had already been concerned about Murphy’s wellbeing.“They told me that she had died but nobody knew, and I have to say, my first thought was, I wasn’t surprised,” Donovan said.
‘I’m worried about her’
Donovan explained that she and Murphy shared the same hairdresser, who would sometimes privately express concerns about the actress.“We also shared a hairdresser, not an on-set person but our hairdresser in life, and she would, in confidence, say to me, ‘I’m worried about her.’ Because she would go to her house,” Donovan recalled.Donovan said she was concerned herself but did not believe she was close enough to Murphy to intervene.The actress, now 55, also recalled the last time she saw Murphy in person. According to Donovan, they crossed paths at the 2005 GLAAD Awards, where she noticed that Murphy appeared physically unwell.
‘Her knees were buckling’
“Her knees were buckling. Her legs were shaking. And I was like, ‘Are you okay?’ And she was like, ‘Yeah! What? What do you mean?’” Donovan recalled.“I looked at her and I was like, ‘She is not healthy. She is not okay. And why is no one helping her?’”Donovan went on to say that, based on what she believed at the time, she suspected Murphy was dealing with an eating disorder and drug problems. She stressed that Murphy had many people around her and questioned what role she could have played as someone who was no longer a close friend.“I thought and I knew it. But she had so many people around her. What am I gonna do? This person from her past… come in and save the day or something?” she said.Donovan added that she continued to worry about Murphy as she noticed the actress was no longer appearing in as many major films as she once had.
Brittany Murphy died in 2009
Murphy died on December 20, 2009, after being found unresponsive at the Hollywood Hills home she shared with her husband, Simon Monjack, and her mother, Sharon Murphy. She was taken to hospital after suffering cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead.The Los Angeles County medical examiner determined that Murphy’s primary cause of death was pneumonia, with anemia and multiple drug intoxication listed as contributing factors. The medications involved included prescription and over-the-counter drugs.Five months after Murphy’s death, Monjack also died at the same residence. His cause of death was also pneumonia.
Mold theory was previously ruled out
Following Monjack’s death, his mother, Linda Monjack, raised concerns about possible mold in the property. She later told the Daily Mail that she believed there had been “severe mold” at the home and described health problems experienced by her son.However, the mold theory had previously been rejected by the medical examiner’s office in 2010.Murphy remains best known for playing Tai Frasier in Clueless, the 1995 teen comedy that became a cultural touchstone. She subsequently appeared in films including Girl, Interrupted and 8 Mile, with the latter earning her widespread critical recognition.
