People News

Brittany Murphy's spouse faces police quiz

Dec 22, 2009, 13:04 GMT

Brittany Murphy, Fame Pictures, Inc - Santa Monica, CA, USA

Brittany Murphy's husband is to be questioned over her death.

British screenwriter Simon Monjack will be one of several people questioned as authorities try to determine how the actress died from cardiac arrest on Sunday (20.12.09), aged just 32.

Simon - who reportedly tried to stop the Los Angeles Coroner's Office from performing an autopsy on Brittany's body yesterday (21.12.09) - previously said he has been "destroyed" by her passing.

Meanwhile, friends of the couple - who wed in 2007 after a whirlwind romance - have spoken out about their concerns surrounding their relationship and their belief he is riddled with huge debts.

It has been reported a 2006 court judgment for £293,000 was made against him by the prestigious Coutts and Company bank, and it is claimed he was evicted from his New York flat in 2005 after failing to pay £5,000 in rent.

US website Gawker has reported there are two outstanding warrants for his arrest in Virginia for alleged fraud and credit card theft and other media outlets claim he was arrested by customs agents in April 2007 for overstaying his work visa.

Simon said: "Like all businessmen, I have faced many lawsuits. It is a real tragedy that success, greed, envy and celebrity are the motivation for attacking my family and character."

Meanwhile, 'Clueless' director Amy Heckerline has added to speculation Brittany suffered from anorexia - after revealing she felt under pressure to be a "skinny, pretty girl".

Amy told Scott Feinberg's AndTheWinnerIs.blog.com: "You know, everybody's shaking their heads and going 'drugs,' of course? She seemed to go through a change, you know, on 'Clueless.' Maybe she felt like she was not the, like, skinny, pretty girl, you know?

"And then the next few movies she was thinner, blonde, at MTV Awards and all sorts of things like that, and going out with Eminem and Ashton Kutcher.

"I think she felt the pressure to become a different sort of commodity to survive in show business, and I think it was awful."

The autopsy on her body was completed yesterday (21.12.09) but results will not be announced until toxicology and neurological tests come back during the next six weeks.

Since her passing, a number of prescription drugs have been confiscated from Brittany's home.