The Hollywood community is stunned today by news of the death of actress Brittany Murphy. Murphy, 32, was best-known for her roles in Clueless, 8 Mile, and most recently, Sin City. (TMZ was the first to report the death, with Wikipedians hard at work searching for a more reliable site to credit before posting it as truth.)
If the rumors turn out to be true, there's bound to be speculation about the cause of Murphy's death. Initial reports cite cardiac arrest, the same cause that was attributed to Michael Jackson's death this summer. Murphy made headlines earlier this month when her husband had a brief health scare that led him to the hospital. And she reportedly parted ways on bad terms from production of the upcoming movie The Caller. See Saturday Night Live's spoof of Murphy below:
Earlier in her career, Murphy was accused of having an eating disorder which some believed was tied to a cocaine habit. In 2005 she denied the allegations, saying:
"Wow. No, just for the record I have never tried it in my entire life, I've never even seen it, and I don't leave the house too much, except to go to work," she said. "My worst vice is caffeine. [The rumor is] really pretty darn far-fetched -- it couldn't be further from the truth. I have known people over the course of my life that have bad problems with drugs, and it's something really serious."
Update: At 3:25 p.m., Wikipedia added the death to Brittany Murphy's page. It has the Chicago Tribune as the source.
Update: At 9 p.m., SNL pulled the clip from Hulu.com.
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