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What Happened, Brittany Murphy? docuseries review: The grift at the center of the Brittany Murphy tragedy. - Slate
Oct 14, 2021 2 mins, 17 secs
If you grew up watching Brittany Murphy’s films, it’s likely that her 2009 death still haunts you in some way.

Yet HBO Max’s new two-part docuseries about the actress, What Happened, Brittany Murphy?, suggests there is another element to this story entirely—one more mystery we may have missed out on.

For fans, Murphy’s marriage to the British screenwriter in 2007 seemed unexpected—though the docuseries depicts Murphy as someone eager to settle down, after two failed engagements.

depicts Monjack as a Jamie Spears–like figure, a sociopathic con man who exerted control over Murphy’s entire life and benefited from his late wife’s fame and fortune.

The docuseries suggests that Murphy’s marriage to Monjack was one rooted in power and control—the words “emotionally abusive” are never used, but they are clearly implied.

We learn that Monjack had inserted himself into every aspect of Murphy’s life, becoming his wife’s agent, business manager, and even makeup artist.

Monjack’s strangely entrancing pull played out in his relationship with Murphy’s mother, Sharon, as well, which is further examined in What Happened, Brittany Murphy.

Monjack and Sharon did, what one of the talking heads described as, a “creepy” photoshoot following Murphy’s death.

Then, there was the news that Monjack and Sharon would share a bed following her death.

We’re shown how, when conducting interviews about his late wife’s death, Monjack would control the conversation, even cutting Sharon off.

This dynamic infamously was evident in a conversation with Larry King, where Monjack announced that he and Sharon would be starting the Brittany Murphy Foundation.

And one of the two-parter’s saddest, strangest anecdotes involves Sharon going to pawn jewelry Monjack had given to Murphy, including a replica of Audrey Hepburn’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s tiara, and finding out that none of it was real.

Elijah’s mother, Elizabeth Ragsdale, also appears for the first time on camera, saying that she believes Monjack contributed to Murphy’s death by not having her seek medical treatment—and did the same with himself: “He would rather be dead than be discovered as the con artist he was.”.

It also exposes a new scenario in which Murphy was the victim of a grift, a thoroughly contemporary story in the age of fabulism, which keeps us enthralled by the events surrounding her death, more than a decade later.

Murphy’s story, as told by the docuseries, still deeply resonates and entrances as we learn there are secrets about Monjack and her relationship that may still not have been discovered.

Still, it’s impossible not to hypothesize about what Brittany Murphy’s life and career could have been like, had it not ended so tragically.

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