Brittany Murphy Husband: Who Simon Monjack Was And What Really Happened

If you’re searching for “Brittany Murphy husband,” you’re looking for Simon Monjack – the British writer and producer Brittany married in 2007, and the man who died just five months after her, in the same house, from almost the same causes. Their marriage has become part of the mystery around her death, but underneath all the headlines, it’s still a story about two complicated people whose lives ended far too soon.

Brittany Murphy Before The Tragedy

Before anyone was dissecting her personal life, Brittany Murphy was just a hugely likable actor with a very distinctive presence. She broke out as Tai in Clueless, then showed just how much range she had in movies like Girl, Interrupted, 8 Mile, Uptown Girls, Sin City and in voice work like Gloria in Happy Feet.

Colleagues often describe her as warm, funny, and thoughtful—someone who was kind to crews and remembered the small details about people.

On December 20, 2009, Brittany collapsed in the bathroom of the Hollywood Hills home she shared with her mother, Sharon, and Simon. She was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center but couldn’t be revived. She was just 32. The coroner ruled that she died from pneumonia, with iron-deficiency anemia and a mix of prescription and over-the-counter medications contributing to her death. It was officially classified as an accident.

That alone was shocking. The fact that her husband’s death would mirror hers a few months later is what turned “Brittany Murphy husband” into something people still look up today.

Who Was Brittany Murphy’s Husband, Simon Monjack?

Simon Mark Monjack was born in England in 1970. He presented himself as a screenwriter, producer and director. His credited work included the small British film Two Days, Nine Lives, which he wrote and directed, and a story credit on Factory Girl, the Edie Sedgwick biopic.

He had a life before Brittany: he’d been married to British TV personality Simone Bienne in the early 2000s, and the marriage ended in divorce. Court records and news reports later showed a trail of financial trouble—lawsuits over unpaid debts, credit card issues, and even an arrest in the U.S. related to an expired visa.

Those details weren’t widely known while Brittany was alive, but they took on a different weight once both of them were gone.

How Brittany And Simon Got Together

The two met years before they became a couple, but they reconnected in the mid-2000s, when Brittany was in a somewhat uneven stretch of her career. She was still working, but the roles weren’t at the level of her earlier breakthrough years.

Things between them moved quickly. In May 2007, they married in a small Jewish ceremony at her Hollywood Hills home. There was no big rollout or magazine spread; for many fans, the news that she even had a husband came as a surprise.

After the wedding, Simon became a constant presence. He joined her at premieres, sat in on meetings, and, according to some of the people who worked with her, became the point person for decisions that had previously gone through long-time managers and agents.

From a distance, it looked like an intense, romantic partnership. Up close, some people were uneasy.

Inside The Marriage: Devotion Or Control?

In public, Brittany and Simon often came across as inseparable and deeply in love. In interviews, they talked about “we” more than “I,” and he frequently described himself as her protector.

But former friends, colleagues, and an ex-fiancée of Simon’s later painted a less reassuring picture. In HBO’s documentary What Happened, Brittany Murphy? and other reports, Simon is described as someone who told big stories about his past, struggled with money, and could be manipulative in relationships.

People who worked on Brittany’s final film, Something Wicked, recalled him being constantly on set, hovering near her, and even doing her hair and makeup himself—something they found strange and unprofessional. Several said it felt like she was being kept apart from everyone else.

Taken together, those accounts suggest a dynamic where Brittany, already under pressure and not in the best health, was becoming more isolated, with Simon at the center of her world.

Brittany’s Health And Final Days

By 2009, people around Brittany were worried about her. On set, she appeared thin, tired and often unwell. Co-workers noticed she was out of breath, low on energy and not her usual bright self between takes.

At home, she lived with Simon and her mother. Both later told investigators she’d been suffering from flu-like symptoms—coughing, weakness, feeling drained—for days before her death, but she never went to the hospital.

On the morning of December 20, she collapsed in the bathroom. Sharon called 911, and Brittany was rushed to the hospital, where she went into cardiac arrest and could not be revived.

The coroner’s report pointed to pneumonia as the main cause, with anemia and a mix of prescription and over-the-counter drugs making things worse. There were no illegal narcotics, and the manner was ruled accidental.

Because pneumonia is treatable in many cases, especially in someone so young, people asked why she hadn’t gotten more aggressive care—and whether those closest to her, including her husband, recognized how serious it was.

The Death Of Simon Monjack

Five months after Brittany died, the spotlight swung back to her house for the worst possible reason.

On May 23, 2010, Simon Monjack was found unresponsive in the same Hollywood Hills home. Sharon Murphy found him in the bedroom, and paramedics again could not save him. He was 40 years old.

The coroner concluded that Simon, too, had died from acute pneumonia and severe anemia, with an enlarged heart as a contributing factor. Prescription medications were present but not at lethal levels.

Two people in the same house, within months, dying of the same combination of pneumonia and anemia was enough to fuel years of speculation—about mold in the home, toxins, poison, or something more sinister.

Officials have repeatedly said they found no evidence of foul play in either death. A medical examiner involved in Brittany’s case has stood by the original findings, emphasizing that severe anemia plus untreated pneumonia can be fatal.

Still, because Simon was already controversial in life, his death in such similar circumstances did nothing to quiet the questions around him.