Actress Brittany Murphy Found Dead in Shower

TMZ reported Sunday that "8 Mile" actress Brittany Murphy was found dead in her Los Angeles home. A 911 call made by her husband, screenwriter and director Simon Monjack, at 8 a.m. resulted in paramedics finding an unconscious Murphy who was determined to be in full cardiac arrest. CPR was administered and continued while Murphy was transferred to Cedars-Sinai Medical Centere, but she remained unresponsive. Brittany Murphy was pronounced dead at the hospital. She was 32.

The "Clueless" and "Don't Say A Word" actress was reportedly found by her mother Sunday morning. Apparently, Brittany Murphy was unconscious in the shower.

Last month, paramedics were called aboard a plane at LAX to administer to Simon Monjack, who was incoherent upon his return from Puerto Rico. Brittany Murphy said she believed he had an asthma attack, but paramedics at the scene believe that Monjack was suffering from something "more serious than that," according to TMZ.

Perez Hilton immediately began speculating that Brittany Murphy's death was drug-induced. "People just don't typically die at 32 of natural causes!!!!!!!," the celebrity gossip blogger wrote.

"Absolutely devastating," he continued. "Especially because this comes as no surprise! We, and those who knew Brittany personally, saw this coming. That does not make this any less horrible."

Although there may be no connection between Simon Monjack's problems on a plane trip in November and his young wife's untimely death in mid-December, the likelihood that the two might be related should be a cause for concern -- and investigation. Given the number of drug-related deaths of young Hollywood celebrities in the past couple years -- Heath Ledger, Brad Renfro, Michael Jackson, to name a few -- a look into whether or not drugs may have caused Brittany Murphy's heart to arrest would seem more than appropriate.

TMZ reported later in the day that the L. A. Coroner's Office was launching an investigation into the young actress' death.

Brittany Murphy began acting in regional theatre when she was nine years old. By the age of 13 she was doing commercials. The Atlanta-born actress landed her first major role in 1991 on the NBC television show "Blossom" and her first major film role in 1995's "Clueless." Besides various acting credits, Murphy was the lead singer of her own band, Blessed Soul, during the 1990s. She was also the voice of the vapid Luanne Platter, Peggy Hill's niece on the long-running Fox Television animated series "King of the Hill."

Brittany Murphy married Simon Monjack in 2007.

According to the Internet Movie Database, Brittany Murphy had three movies in post-production and a fourth, "Shrinking Charlotte," in pre-production.

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Sources:

TMZ.com
PerezHilton.com
"Brittany Murphy," IMDb.com