Did Brittany Murphy Die Because Of Her Spouse's Habits?

The gossip mill is awash with overdose rumors.

As you likely know, the star of Just Married, Brittany Murphy, passed away Sunday, December 20th. Our friends at HollywoodLife give us a rundown of the known facts.

Essentially, we know:

* She was a 32-year-old woman in relatively good shape.
* She perished due to cardiac arrest.
* Her husband, Simon Monjack, was hospitalized some three weeks ago. Per TMZ, he was incoherent when taken off the airplane.
* RadarOnline says that the LAPD has ruled out foul play in her death.
* A toxicology report will be part of today's autopsy.

And the speculation:

* The Hollywood Gossip says Brittany Murphy was fired from the production of a recent film prior to Simon's hospital episode.
* The rumor mill suggests that Simon Monjack was a frequent user of recreational drugs.
* The Examiner says that Mr. Monjack asked that an autopsy not be done, though his request was denied.
* The Huffington Post mentions that the information freeway is rife with suspicion that her waif-like figure was a result of anorexia nervosa.
* Then People rolls the ball of rumor into a nice, succinct package.

If you toss all of the facts into a blender with 5% of the scuttlebutt, the natural conclusion is that drugs or an overdose were involved, right? From that assumption, we travel into slightly murkier territory.

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To what degree was her husband's character involved in her potential use of drugs? Was he a Svengali who corrupted a naturally sweet and clean young woman? Did she venture down a darker path on her own and meet this man on the other side of the rabbit hole? Either way, there is a certain toxicity to couples who share habits and addiction.

Though drugs did not kill Nancy Spungen, they certainly factored into her stabbing death. Luckily, Whitney Houston escaped whatever destructive codependency she shared with Bobby Brown. Ideally, Amy Winehouse and Blake's reconciliation will inspire them to live cleanly.

Irrespective of the facts, let's all hope that this death manages to remind some people of how fragile we are, and convinces them to choose life over the alternative.

Written by Tom Miller for YourTango.

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