The body of actress Brittany Murphy has been released to a storied Hollywood memorial park where a private service is reportedly scheduled for Christmas Eve.
A coroner source told the Daily News that Murphy’s body was released to Forest Lawn after Monday’s autopsy – the same memorial park where Bette Davis, Lucille Ball and John Ritter are buried. Tomorrow’s daytime memorial service will be “strictly private,” RadarOnline.com reported.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily News, Murphy’s husband Simon Monjack said he and Murphy’s mom Sharon are devastated by the “Clueless” star’s untimely death from cardiac arrest Sunday morning.
“I haven’t slept,” he said Tuesday. “Sharon and I are getting each other through, taking turns crying.”
The exact cause of Murphy’s death is deferred pending toxicology and tissue tests that could take four to six weeks. Investigators have ruled out foul play but booked several prescriptions in Murphy’s name into evidence.
Monjack, 39, adamantly denied reports that Murphy, 32, may have overdosed or suffered from an eating disorder.
“My wife did not take anything on the morning of her death that would have caused her to be sick or ill, let alone die. It’s beyond even the sickest speculation,” he told the News.
“The attacks on me, the attacks on my wife and suggestions that she was anorexic and drug addicted, it’s like, look at the (recent) photographs,” he said. “Look at that smile. That’s not the smile of an anorexic or drug addict or someone in a bad marriage. That’s someone who was content with her life.”
Murphy weighed 115 pounds at her autopsy, Chief Coroner Investigator Craig Harvey told the News. That’s within medical recommendations for her height of 5-feet 5-inches.”He has lost the love of his life,” Monjack’s mom Linda Monjack told The Jewish Chronicle.
A source told People.com that a larger memorial service is expected to follow the smaller private ceremony sometime in the new year.
