Inside Brittany Murphy’s death 16 years ago at the ‘haunted’ Hollywood home she bought from Britney Spears

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As a lifestyle expert, I’ve been following the renewed interest in Brittany Murphy’s former Hollywood Hills home, and it’s quite a story. It’s been sixteen years since her tragic passing, and people are again talking about the house she bought from Britney Spears. What’s so striking is that both Brittany and her husband sadly passed away in that very home, just months apart. It’s a really unsettling coincidence that continues to fascinate and, frankly, give people chills.

In 2003, Murphy bought a fully furnished house from Spears for $3.85 million. He moved into the large Los Angeles home several years before a tragic event occurred.

Brittany Murphy, the actress known for her role in ‘Clueless,’ passed away on December 20, 2009, at the age of 32. She was found at her home in Los Angeles, where she lived with her husband, Simon Monjack, a British screenwriter.

Just five months later Monjack also passed away on the grounds. He was 40-years-old.

Investigations later showed Murphy died from a combination of pneumonia, anemia, and drug interactions involving both prescription and over-the-counter medicines. Monjack also died from pneumonia.

Years later, the pair of deaths are still shrouded in mystery, with the mansion at the center.

Following her son’s death, Linda Monjack expressed worries about significant mold found in the building where he lived.

Oh my god, I read this interview she gave back in 2013, and it just broke my heart all over again. She said that before Simon passed, he was experiencing these horrible hallucinations – he genuinely believed things were crawling under his skin. It’s just… devastating to think about what he went through.

The theory was previously ruled out in 2010 by the medical examiner’s office.

The late actress and her husband — a screenwriter and director — lived with her mom, Sharon Murphy.

They were married at the home in April 2007.

Sharon made the 911 call the morning of her daughter’s death, after she collapsed at 8am.

She was also the one to find her son-in-law unresponsive five months later.

Murphy had experienced flu-like symptoms in the days leading up to her death. 

Following her collapse, she was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Like his wife, Monjack died from a combination of severe pneumonia and anemia, according to the coroner’s report.

Murphy and Spears both claimed they felt something off about the mansion.

In February 2021, Julianne Kaye, who used to do the pop star’s makeup, shared a story on the “We Need to Talk About Britney” podcast about an incident that made her leave the house.

She told me Britney contacted her, which she found strange. Apparently, Britney asked her to have a friend perform reiki healing on her.

He came upstairs, and it sounds like she’d just had a really wild weekend and was totally exhausted. After he left, she insists something bizarre happened – she truly believes he opened some kind of spiritual gateway, and really negative energies came through. She says they were actively trying to harm her, even trying to push her down the stairs – it was terrifying, according to her.

Kaye explained that things were so terrible she decided to leave, moving into the Casa Del Mar hotel and never going back home.

‘She goes, “I know you’re gonna think I’m crazy. I’m not crazy. I know what I saw. I know what I felt.”‘

Murphy sensed something unsettling too, and often expressed her discomfort with her husband.

In a January 2011 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Monjack revealed that his wife often tried to stay away from their house.

He told writer Alex Ben Block that his wife truly disliked their house in Rising Glen. Whenever they drove along Sunset Boulevard, she would beg to stay at the Beverly Hills Hotel instead.

I would tell them, “Look, we need to be practical. We own our home—it’s a large one, over 10,000 square feet—and we plan to stay here.”

The British filmmaker also described the bathroom where Murphy died as her ‘comfort zone.’

He described it as her sanctuary – a place where she could relax, read, write, sing, and generally take care of herself.

The house belonged to several different owners following Murphy’s death.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sharon first listed the house for $4.99 million but didn’t find a buyer. She then lowered the price to $2.7 million in July 2011.

In December 2024 it was listed for nearly $18 million.

I have to say, when I first saw this house, it really struck me! The listing described it as completely transformed – almost like a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis. They’d given the outside a fresh, new look and made all sorts of updates, giving the whole property a brand new lease on life.

David Parnes, formerly of the show Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles and now with Carolwood Estates, is selling the property for $17,995,000.

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2025-12-21 00:04