Wednesday marks the one-month anniversary of Brittany Murphy's shocking death at age 32 — and the late actress' mother and husband insist that natural causes, not prescription drugs or an eating disorder, brought about her untimely end.
In a new interview with the Associated Press, Sharon Murphy and Simon Monjack speak their peace about the Clueless star as they await toxicology reports to officially determine her cause of death.
The star, Monjack said, suffered from mitral valve prolapse (in which a heart valve does not close properly), but doctors assured her that she "would live a long and healthy life."
Of rampant speculation that Murphy abused prescription drugs, her husband said that some of the pills discovered in their Hollywood Hills home were his. The actress occasionally took the anti-seizure drug klonopin following an incident during the filming of 8 Mile, he says.
Sharon Murphy explains that Brittany "had a fear of dying," and was hesitant about imbibing much of anything. "She would not take too much caffeine. She wouldn't even have a glass of champagne on New Year's," the grieving mother said. Of her daughter's often-bubbly demeanor, Sharon muses, "She was just high on life, and people see that as something else I guess." Still, Sharon admits that the wait for an official report is agonizing. "We wish we knew," she says.
"She was alive one minute and she was dead the next," Monjack said of the dark Dec. 20 morning when Murphy died.
Sharon Murphy also shoots down speculation that her daughter had an eating disorder. Brittany was always petite, she said; she ate often, but burned off calories with an "active lifestyle," the AP reports.
Sharon and Monjack plan a public L.A. area memorial sometime in February — and will also launch the Brittany Murphy Foundation, benefiting arts education for children, sometime soon.
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"I think the dust will settle, the truth will come out," Monjack said. "I think people will come to realize the genius of Brittany Murphy and come to regret the way they treated her while she was alive."
