Sixteen years after her sudden demise rocked the entertainment world, renewed interest surrounds the enigmatic Hollywood Hills residence once owned by Brittany Murphy. This is the same home, originally purchased from pop icon Britney Spears, where both Murphy and her spouse met untimely ends just months apart.
In 2003, Murphy acquired the lavish Los Angeles estate from Spears for $3.85 million, fully furnished. She settled into the expansive property, unaware of the looming heartache it would later witness.
Tragedy struck on December 20, 2009, when the star of “Clueless” was discovered lifeless in the home at the age of 32. She had been residing there with her husband, Simon Monjack, a British screenwriter.
Merely five months after Murphy’s passing, Monjack also died within the same grounds, at the age of 40.
Subsequent investigations revealed that Murphy’s death resulted from a combination of untreated pneumonia, anemia, and the effects of various prescription and over-the-counter medications. Monjack’s passing was similarly attributed to pneumonia.
As the years have passed, the mysterious circumstances surrounding their deaths continue to intrigue, with the mansion remaining a focal point of speculation.
Brittany Murphy and her husband Simon Monjack died within months of each other in 2009 and 2010 respectively; pictured in 2007
Murphy purchased her fully furnished Hollywood Hills home, where she and her husband both died, from Britney Spears in 2003 for $3.85 million
After Monjack’s death, his mother Linda Monjack voiced concern that there had been ‘severe mold’ on the premises.
She told Daily Mail in 2013: ‘All I know is that before Simon’s death, he was having hallucinations that things were crawling out of his skin.’
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.
Murphy purchased the stunning pad from pop star Britney Spears in 2003; (Spears pictured in 2008)
The couple pictured in February 2008
Murphy’s mother Sharon Murphy made the 911 call the morning of her daughter’s death, after she collapsed at 8am; pictured in 2004
Similar to his wife, a coroner declared acute pneumonia and severe anemia as the causes of Monjack’s death.
Murphy and Spears both claimed they felt something off about the mansion.
The pop star’s former makeup artist, Julianne Kaye, recalled the encounter that caused her to abandon the house on the We Need to Talk About Britney podcast in February 2021.
‘She had that place up on Sunset Plaza — and I’m just gonna say, this is really weird.[Britney] calls me… I had my friend do reiki healing on her,’ she shared.
‘He had come up; I guess she’d had a crazy partying weekend and needed to relax. He left, and she swears to God that he opened some spirit portal or something, and these bad spirits had come in… and they were trying to, like, push her down the stairs or something crazy.’
‘It was so bad that she left,’ Kaye added, noting that the songstress took refuge at the Casa Del Mar hotel and never returned to her house.
‘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.”‘
A documentary called What Happened, Brittany Murphy? premiered on HBO Max in 2021
Murphy sensed something unsettling too, and often expressed her discomfort with her husband.
According to a report published by The Hollywood Reporter in January 2011, Monjack shared that his wife tried to avoid the home.
‘She absolutely hated the Rising Glen house,’ he told writer Alex Ben Block. ‘Every time we would drive up Sunset, Britt would say, “Please, can we stay at the Beverly Hills Hotel?”
‘I’d say: “Honey, you’ve got to be realistic. We have our house, a 10,000-square-foot home. We’re going to stay in it.”‘
The British filmmaker also described the bathroom where Murphy died as her ‘comfort zone.’
According to him, it was the place where she read magazines, sang to herself, wrote, and pampered herself.
Murphy and Spears both claimed they felt something off about the mansion; seen in 2010
In December 2024 the home was put up for sale for nearly $18M, with a Zillow listing insisting it had been ‘reborn’ after undergoing ‘a complete metamorphosis’
The house belonged to several different owners following Murphy’s death.
Sharon listed the residence for for $2.7 million in July 2011, after struggling to find a buyer for $4.99 million, per The Hollywood Reporter.
In December 2024 it was listed for nearly $18 million.
At the time, a Zillow listing said the sprawling home had been ‘reborn,’ after undergoing ‘a complete metamorphosis’ including a ‘newly redesigned’ exterior and other changes.
David Parnes of Carolwood Estates, who is a Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles alum, is handling the sale with an asking price of $17,995,000.
