Brittany Murphy's death ruled accidental by L.A. County coroner's office

The L.A. County coroner's office says actress Brittany Murphy died of pneumonia complicated by an iron deficiency, anemia and multiple drug intoxication.

Coroner officials said Murphy had gone into sudden cardiac arrest because of "drug intake," and the Dec. 20 death was classified as an accident. They said an autopsy report would be available in two weeks.

Murphy, 32, went into cardiac arrest at her home in the Hollywood Hills. L.A. firefighters responded to a medical call at about 8 a.m. at the home she shared with husband Simon Monjack in the 1800 block of Rising Glen Road.

Firefighters tried unsuccessfully to revive Murphy on the way to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead about two hours later.

Born Nov. 10, 1977, in Atlanta, Murphy moved to Burbank with her mother when she was 13. Her film break came in the movie "Clueless" (1995), in which she starred opposite Alicia Silverstone.

Murphy made many other film appearances, including in "Girl Interrupted" (1999), "8 Mile" (2002), "The Dead Girl" (2006), and "Across the Hall" (2009). She also was featured as the voice of Luanne Platter in the Fox TV show "King of the Hill."

-- Richard Winton

Photo: Brittany Murphy in June 2009 on the set of "Abandoned" in Los Angeles. Credit: Hybrid Productions

More breaking news in L.A. Now:

Casey Johnson died of diabetes-related condition, L.A. County coroner says

LAPD arrests alleged Melrose Avenue serial burglar

Bell police fatally shoot man after chase ends in South Gate

Former Pico Rivera councilman arrested on perjury charges

Comments

[cali steelers guy]

what were the "multiple drugs"??

[Steve Mooney]

It appears that young woman with Type I diabetes may be prone to the same fate as Casey Johnson. A friend at my office, a 28 year old girl, recently died from complications of diabetes after a bout of pneumonia. I've heard of other young woman recently suffering from the same fate.

Might be an interesting story to explore.

[Little Richie]

Our sincere condolences to entire Brittany Murphy family and close friends. She was a tremendous actor and truely a beautiful person, R.I.P Britt, you will be missed.......
Little Richie

[Jd]

No way that woman in the picture was Brittany Murphy. Completely different she looked on movies.

[Renee]

I was so sad when i heard she died. I have always liked her! I can still see her singing 'Rollin' with the homies' in clueless! that used to be my fave movie (i was 10, dont judge!). I loved her energy and goofyness. i loved most of her other movies too. I always looked foward to her movies becuase she always had such presense and its really sad to think that i wont see her on the shelves anymore. i always kinda thought it was cool that she and i shared a birthday too... I for one will you Miss Brittany!
Your birthday buddy,
Renee
p.s. I know you all love to condemn stars for thier eating habits (and blame them for thier own downfall) but is it really too much to ask to stop analyzing every little detail of her life? She got enough of that while she was alive. Does it really have to carry over into her death? You read it yourself, they ruled it an ACCIDENT. Leave it at that. Let the girl rest in peace. Her family could do without all the speculation as well. Just a thought.

[xeno]

What a tragic death. It still shocks me that these people are able to get doctors to prescribe them potentially-lethal combinations of drugs at will. They are doctor shopping, lying and/or dealing with shady medics to get their supplies, I know, but the whole phenomenon still amazes me. Most of us stick to one primary physician and a few specialists, if we're even lucky enough to have health care coverage.

Among entertainers like MJ, Murphy, Heath ledger (and the occasional bloated bloviator like Limbaugh) prescription drug abuse seems common. How many of them have to die for the dangers to scare the rest out of this behavior?