The Dark History Behind Brittany Murphy's Home — Plus, What Happened to It After She Died There

On Dec. 20, 2009, Brittany Murphy died in her Hollywood Hills home at age 32. Five months later, her husband, Simon Monjack, was also found dead on the property.

Since then, mysteries have continued to surround their deaths — and their former home has become a key player in the confounding story.

From reports of haunted encounters to speculations that something else within the home may have caused the couple's deaths, here's everything to know about Brittany's home.

How long did Brittany Murphy live there?

Brittany — whose life and sudden death were explored on the 2021 Max docuseries What Happened, Brittany Murphy? — moved into the home in 2003 after purchasing it fully furnished from Britney Spears for $3.85 million, according to property records.

She lived in the home for just under six years with Simon, whom she married in May 2007, before taking her last breath in the main bathroom one fateful morning in December 2009.

Who else lived in the home?

Brittany's mother, Sharon Murphy, who lived with the couple, called 911 when the Clueless star collapsed at 8 a.m. after experiencing flu-like symptoms for a few days. The Los Angeles Fire Department responded to the call, and the actress was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she was later pronounced dead.

In February 2010, L.A. County Coroner Assistant Chief Ed Winter — who died in March 2023, per KTLA — concluded that Brittany's death was the result of untreated pneumonia, combined with anemia and drug intoxication from prescription and over-the-counter medications, including painkillers and cold medicine. No illegal drugs were found in her system.

Was there mold found in the home after Brittany Murphy’s death?

There was speculation that the couple's deaths could have been related to mold in the home, but that theory was later dismissed by the medical examiner's office in 2010.

However, Simon's mother, Linda Monjack, continued to fuel this theory when she told Daily Mail in 2013 that her son had found "severe mold" in the home prior to his death. 

"All I know is that before Simon's death he was having hallucinations that things were crawling out of his skin," Linda said.

Was the home haunted?

Both Spears and Brittany reported that they thought there was something strange about the home — located on Rising Glen Road, atop the Sunset Strip — when they each lived there.

Spears, who was dating Justin Timberlake when she lived in the house, apparently claimed to have had an otherworldly encounter that led her to leave the property and never come back.

The "Toxic" singer's former makeup artist, Julianne Kaye, recounted the situation on an episode of the We Need to Talk About Britney podcast in February 2021.

"[Spears] had that place up on Sunset Plaza — and I'm just gonna say, this is really weird … She calls me … I had my friend do reiki healing on her," Kaye explained on the podcast. "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."

Kaye continued: "It was so bad that she left. She went to the Casa Del Mar hotel to stay there and never went back to the 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.'"

While Murphy never claimed to see spirits, she did seem to have a sense that something was off about the home. In a January 2011 interview with The Hollywood Reporter shortly after Murphy's death, Monjack shared that his late wife tried to avoid the home at all costs.

"She absolutely hated the Rising Glen house," Simon told The Hollywood Reporter. "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.'"

Simon told reporters that Murphy thought the property was "unlucky," so he planned to move him, his wife and her mother to New York — where they intended to start a family — in the next year.

Simon also shared that the bathroom where Murphy ultimately died was her "comfort zone" in the home, and she spent hours in there reading magazines, singing to herself, writing poetry, sampling her beauty products and looking at herself in the mirror.

On May 23, 2010, Sharon found her son-in-law unresponsive in the home. Simon, then 40, was pronounced dead after the LAFD was called to the residence for a medical emergency, PEOPLE reported at the time. Like the actress, a coroner later determined acute pneumonia and severe anemia as the causes of the screenwriter's death.

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What happened to Brittany Murphy's home after her death?

Though the infamous location became known as the site of the couple's mysterious deaths, the home has changed hands multiple times. According to property records, Sharon sold the estate at a massive loss, for $2.7 million, in 2011 after struggling to find a buyer.

In 2013, it was torn down and underwent a multiyear rebuild, with developers aiming to create a sprawling, contemporary structure. When it was sold again in 2017, for $14.53 million, the property bore no resemblance to its former incarnation.

According to Zillow, the new home was last sold in December 2020 for $11.59 million. It measures 9,400 square feet and has five bedrooms and eight and a half bathrooms.

Zillow's listing described it as "a city view masterpiece perched atop the Sunset Strip," with an open floor plan, high ceilings and "rooms that open completely to outdoor lounge spaces, nearly all [with] unobstructed city views."

The main suite is 2,000 square feet and boasts two walk-in closets, two bathrooms and a private patio. Other key features in the home include a home theater, massage room, wine cellar, infinity pool and spa and an elevator.