Brittany's family shocked by report

Last updated 05:00 06/02/2010

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Brittany Murphy’s husband has insisted she wasn’t "that ill" on the day she died.

The 32-year-old actress died after collapsing at the Los Angeles home she lived in with her husband Simon Monjack and her mother Sharon Murphy.

Sharon found her unconscious in the bathroom, and by the time medics got her to hospital she was announced dead on arrival.

An autopsy was carried out, along with toxicology and other tests. On Friday, the Los Angeles County Coroner released his findings on her death, saying it was accidental and caused by pneumonia, iron deficiency anaemia and multiple drug intoxication – she had been taking cough medicine and medication to relieve cramps.

Reports claimed Brittany’s death was "preventable" had she received adequate medical treatment.

Simon and Sharon had previously said they thought a long-standing heart murmur Brittany suffered from would be found to have caused her death. They are now struggling to come to terms with the findings.

"I was ridiculously upset when I heard," Simon told People magazine. "Everything surprised me and Brittany's mom about the report. I expected the cause of death to be her heart.

"She was not that ill. She wasn't coughing up. I've had pneumonia and coughed up handfuls of spittle. So yeah, everything surprised us, everything."

Simon refused to be drawn on claims Brittany could have survived the illness. “I don't know what he said so I don't want to comment on what I haven't seen,” he said. “Case closed. As the coroner said, there's no foul play.”

It has been claimed up to ten different prescription medications were found in Brittany’s bedroom after her death, although Simon has since insisted many of them were his. He and Sharon have both refuted claims Brittany took illegal drugs or suffered from an eating disorder, insisting she was happy and healthy.

It has been revealed the 5ft 3ins actress weighed 115lbs at the time of her death, with the coroner’s investigator claiming she “wasn't the healthiest person in the world”.

On Wednesday, the coroner’s office’s assistant chief coroner Ed Winter visited Sharon and Simon at their home following claims a number of prescription medications used to be delivered to the property in a manila envelope each week.

Ed has since insisted claims Simon will be investigated in relation to the death are wide of the mark.

"He was never considered a suspect. No one's criminally liable here because this has been ruled an accident," he said.

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