Simon Monjack, who has absorbed no shortage of blame and derision following the death of his wife Brittany Murphy, fought back today by announcing a wrongful-death lawsuit against Warner Bros. According to Monjack, the studio "killed her" when it dismissed Murphy from her duties in its forthcoming Happy Feet sequel, and now it's time to pay. And just to emphasize the mass misunderstanding of his character among the media, Monjack has also passed along an exclusive photo album he shot featuring the late actress as... Hannibal Lecter?
The Daily Beast has the lengthy story and the photos, which would probably be unsettling even if Murphy hadn't died of questionable circumstances last month at age 32. In addition to announcing his suit against Warner Bros., Monajck also hopes to clear up some of those circumstances in apparent hopes of reinforcing his case. Like the whole thing about Murphy being fired for being unstable on the Puerto Rico set of The Caller? Lies! Or reports that he, too, was drunk and abusive and difficult on the same set? Wrong! And Warner Bros.' brushing off of Murphy, allegedly because of "conjecture and hearsay"? Talk to his lawyers!
"They killed her," he told me. Although the L.A. coroner's office hasn't released a final cause of death, Monjack and Brittany's mother, Sharon, who also spoke to me, are convinced that the once-promising star died of a heart attack from the stress caused by Warner Brother's cancelling of a contract just two weeks before she died. Murphy was excited to have begun production on the sequel to the animated hit Happy Feet, but when she was fired by Warner Brothers, Monjack says, "She was devastated." [...]
[H]er last gig, the voice of Gloria in the animation film from which Warner Brothers dismissed her, was paying her $10,000 a day, with a five-day minimum, and the possibility of some box office bonuses. It was a long way down from being touted years earlier as part of Hollywood's young emerging elite.
"There's always some new girl getting off a bus," says Monjack. "In Hollywood, girls like Brittany are disposable."
Well! That should make Monjack's creepy, exploitive, Joker-inspired follow-up photo shoot that much easier to facilitate.
ยท Brittany Death Suit [Daily Beast via TMZ]