Speculations have recently arisen once more on the true culprit behind Brittany Murphy’s death. A renowned actress, Murphy died in December 2009, due to pneumonia and anemia. Her husband, Simon Monjack died just 5 months later to the same complications. Now, years later and rumors have begun to resurface that mold could have played a part in the premature death of two young people.

     Murphy purchased the home she perished in from Brittney Spears back in 2003. Less than six years later, she collapsed on the bathroom floor after having flu-like symptoms. Her mother called 911 and rushed her to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where Murphy was pronounced dead. A few months later, the coroner confirmed she died from untreated pneumonia, anemia and drug intoxication from the over-the-counter medications and prescriptions Murphy was taking for her illness.

     Just a mere 154 days later, Monjack was found unresponsive in the same home as Murphy. He died of similar afflictions that took his wife, acute pneumonia and severe anemia. The similarities and proximity of both tragedies sparked concerns.

     “It is unusual to have two people die of similar circumstances with pneumonia,” Los Angeles County assistant chief coroner Ed Winter told ABC News at the time. “We’ve been looking at it and saying, ‘Something isn’t right.’ I’m not saying you can’t get pneumonia from mold, but we did all the tests on it—mold did not come up in the toxicology reports.”

     Some family members don’t seem to be so convinced. Monjack’s Mother, Linda Monjack, expressed to the Daily Mail that she had concerns of mold toxicity. She confirmed her son had found “severe mold” in thehome before he died and was hallucinating. She says, “All I know is that before Simon’s death, he was having hallucinations that things were crawling out of his skin.”

     According to Roger Neal, Murphy’s publicist, The home apparently was tested by “a well-respected company” for dangerous mold just two months before Murphy’s death.  

     It has been noted that Murphy would often plead to her husband to not go home. Monjack was quoted by the Hollywood Reporter stating, “Brittany absolutely hated the Rising Glen house. Every time we would drive up Sunset, Brit 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.’”

     Although the Los Angeles County Department of Health first considered mold as a possible cause of Murphy and Monjack’s fatal pneumonia, the cornor’s department stated that there were “no indicators” that mold was a factor in Murphy or Monjack’s deaths.

     Murphy’s mother, Sharon Murphy, at first believed it was “absurd” that reports circulated that mold could have been the culprit of this double tragedy. But then in December of 2011 she retracted her statement and claimed that toxic mold was the cause of her daughter and son-in-law’s death. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sharon filed a complaint against Steiner & Libo, the attorneys who represented her in an earlier lawsuit against the builders of Murphy’s Hollywood Hills home. She charged the firm with legal malpractice, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty for not properly informing her that—when she accepted the final settlement of her earlier lawsuit in January 2011—that she was giving up her right to sue for the wrongful deaths of her daughter and son-in-law due to the presence of mold in their 13-year-old home.

     No one can truly know what caused such a young couple to die from the same complications and within months of each other. Both the victims’ mothers believe it was toxic mold that pushed their children to mortality. All we can do now is help spread education, awareness and solidarity for those affected by mold. 

Mold Facts

Ways To Prevent Mold

The sun was shining on Friday, September 17th 2021 as sponsors quickly gathered around and began to set up in preparation for the first annual Make Our Schools Safe Golf Classic. MVP Environmental Solutions Inc., was proud to sponsor the first Hole and set up a booth to connect with the community. One hundred and forty-four players participated in the first annual Golf Classic. An outstanding turnout for such an important organization. With the help and rally of the community, Make Our Schools Safe was able to hold a fabulous event meanwhile raising thousands to help further their mission. We encourage all our readers to take the time to learn more about this organization and donating to help further the cause.

Make Our Schools Safe (MOSS) was founded after the MSD tragedy where 17 students and staff were murdered. MOSS  is a 501(c)(3) national non-profit organization dedicated to protecting students and teachers at school. Their mission is to empower students and staff to help create and maintain a culture of safety and vigilance in a secure school environment. The foundation collaborates with high-level security advisors to offer survival information for protection in emergencies. “We are focused on bringing these skills to schools so teachers feel confident to protect their students and themselves. Code-red training must be as intrinsic a part of schooling as fire drills.” http://makeourschoolssafe.org

“Having four children in Parkland schools, it is crucial for our family to feel comfortable sending them to school every day. Make Our Schools Safe is playing a critical role for our children and children across the country to be in safer schools.” – Leo Gordon III, President

Created after the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018, Make Our Schools Safe is dedicated to driving and guiding best practices in school safety.

Our Mission is to empower students and staff to help create and maintain a culture of safety and vigilance in a secure school environment.

P

Preparedness: Knowing the threats and hazards schools face; planning and training for emergency responses to those threats and hazards; knowing and correcting vulnerabilities, thus mitigating/preventing those threats and hazards events/incidents.

O

Observation: Situational awareness and decision support.

W

Willingness to Act: Preparedness response training for school leaders and teachers.

E

Education: Knowledge of response protocols and drills.

R

Response: Responding and recovering from threats and hazards as trained and planned for; building campus resiliency.