Brittany Murphy poison claims ‘madness’
Brittany Murphy’s mother claims that reports suggesting her daughter was poisoned are "madness".
The actress was found dead at her home aged just 32 in December 2009, with the Los Angeles Coroner ruling that her death was an accident caused by acute pneumonia, anaemia and multiple drug toxicity from various over-the-counter cold medications.
Five months later, her husband Simon Monjack, also died of acute pneumonia and anaemia, with reports suggesting that "toxic mould" at their home contributed to the couple’s deaths.
However, the late star’s father Angelo Bertolotti was unconvinced by the coroner’s report, and ordered a new toxicology report after an independent analysis of his daughter’s hair reportedly showed the presence of 10 heavy metals commonly used in rat poison, BANG Showbiz reports.
However, Brittany’s mother Sharon has penned an open letter slamming her ex-partner’s claims and insisting that her daughter died of natural causes and was not murdered.
She wrote in a statement published by The Hollywood Reporter: "I have no choice now but to come forward in the face of inexcusable efforts to smear my daughter’s memory by a man who may be her biological father but was never a real father to her in her lifetime. Angelo Bertolotti has relocated to California in his old age to claim he is here for Brittany, as he never was in life.
"He has made outrageous statements over the past few years, culminating in this latest madness: that my darling daughter was murdered. His claims are based on the most flimsy of evidence and are more of an insult than an insight into what really happened."
She strongly said: "To even mention that the heavy metals that were listed in his test are in rat poison, leading to articles suggesting Brittany ingested that or anything like it, is absurd. If she had, don’t you think it would have shown up in the coroner’s test of her blood and tissue?
"A reputable expert will tell you that what this lab did is an ethical violation of the highest order; to even pretend to be able to draw such conclusions on unreliable evidence is the real crime.
"We will never know for sure [why Brittany died]. However, we do know the Los Angeles County Coroner did extensive tests and found that she died of natural causes. And now she is a real living angel in heaven."
