Brittany Murphy used to think like this, despite the fact that she was born in a family that is infinitely far from the Hollywood establishment. The girl, born on November 10, 1977, in Russia would be called a child from an unsuccessful environment. Her father, an American of Italian descent, Angelo Bertolotti, appeared in police reports as one of the city's most dangerous gangsters. Armed robberies, racketeering, belonging to an influential mafia group - for the Irishman Sharon Murphy, the violent criminal activity of her husband lost a romantic halo almost immediately after the wedding. It turned out that it's not the same thing to meet a criminal and raise children with him. Especially when it comes to a child like Brittany.
Sharon had no doubt that her daughter was something special. At six months the girl started talking, started singing in the year, and copied Michael Jackson's dances with astonishing accuracy. Later, Sharon said more than once that she always knew: Brittany is waiting for a great future. It is not known whether Sharon's relatives shared this certainty, but they did not doubt that they could not live with Bertolotti. After another family scandal, during which Angelo hit his wife. Sharon filed for divorce. Brittany was two years old when her mother moved from Atlanta to the town of Edison, New Jersey. It was not possible to completely eliminate the former husband from Sharon's life: in Italian, the child-loving Angelo wanted to take part in the education of his daughter. "From time to time I saw my father," Brittany recalled. He was always interested in my affairs, but did not make much of his. In general, we had rather good relations. But the ideal man for me forever became my uncle Billy, who easily managed with his large family. In difficult moments of life, he took under his wing and us.
However, there were no special difficulties in the life of Brittany Murphy. Like many divorced women, the mother was guilty before her daughter, and, by her own admission, not because she divorced Angelo, but because she married him in general. Monetary aid from his father, who occasionally ended up in prison, was rarely received. Sharon took up any job, if only her beloved daughter needed nothing. Subsequently, Brittany said that her mother - had a contract with the manufacturer to sell dishes. Translated from respectable to human, this means that Sharon worked as an ordinary traveling salesman, selling pots. The desire to somehow disguise his "unglamorous" origins chased Brittany all his life. Being by nature an extremely capable child - in three years Murphy learned to read and write without any effort - she, nevertheless, realized early on that the unevenness of safe children from full families. "No success in studies can not replace the presence of the father in the school play," - she will say years later. The successes, however, were rather modest. "In my head there was only what I grasped on the fly," she recalled. As soon as it came to cramming, my hands dropped. " All that required diligence and hard work, Brittany was horrified. The only place where everything was really easy for her was the school theater. Then Murphy really shone. At the age of nine she was invited to a local theater. According to most Brittany, these semi-professional stage became for her a school of acting: "Many children just copy adult actors. I also watched and tried to keep children's spontaneity. " The acquired skills were useful to the girl and in ordinary life: she began to help her mother, ringing potential buyers of dishes. The people she called did not expect to be dealing with a 10-year-old: "I already had a low voice at that time, and I was having a lot of fun when I was treated to" ma'am. "
Sharon Murphy was extremely pleased with the artistic success of her daughter. And as soon as Brittany turned thirteen she decided that it was time to take her career seriously. Brittany's portfolio was sent to dozens of actors' agencies, and in one, a big-eyed girl was noticed. Young Miss Murphy - from the father's name was decided to refuse - appeared in several commercials and was successful. But Sharon did not want a short career model for her daughter. Brittany had a personal manager, who soon earned her a small role in the television series "Flowering". "Unlike the disadvantaged teenagers who ran away from home, I came to Los Angeles with my mother, and I had a job," Murphy said. She never missed the opportunity to tell her that her mother "had to sell everything that was" to move to California. In fact, things were not so dramatic: a large number of relatives financially helped Sharon and her daughter settle in a new place. The television debut of Brittany, on which she had high hopes, went unnoticed. She was just another "pretty face", to which the American daily television is so rich. The main roles in the youth series Murphy was not offered. For several years she had to be content with episodes. Subsequently, she repeatedly said that she did not quit everything and did not go to study for a nurse just because her mother would not let her: "I'm very impulsive, impatient and I do not know how to wait." No, she liked to act, she adored being in the spotlight, she knew how and liked to entertain people. But vegetation in the episodes Murphy categorically did not want.
For her agents, Brittany also gradually turned into ballast. After she failed to become a star of youth serials, managers decided to try to make her a pop singer. The teenage rock band Blessed Soul, where Murphy was identified as a soloist, even recorded several CDs, but she did not really succeed. On stage, Brittany laid out one hundred percent, but as soon as it came to rehearsals, she lost interest in music.
At seventeen, Murphy was at a crossroads. The time of the teenage roles ended. Her acting skills, outstanding for the child, turned out to be quite ordinary in the world of "adult" show business. The hidden sexuality of the little girl, who exploited not one Hollywood career, also left. From a teenager, in which, if desired, you could see Lolita's vague charm, Brittany turned into an ordinary pretty girl. She was not a beauty, despite her photogenic nature. "When I first started, the manager said: you can happen to what happens to almost all the children-stars - you just outgrow your glory, and you have to accept it. I remembered Murphy. It's awful to be written off to the archive at sixteen. But even more terrible - if you have not even had time to be a star. "
But in 1995 she still waited for the role, after which she was noticed. It was a comedy "Silly", where Murphy played along with Alicia Silverstone. "Everything was easy and easy for us," Brittany recalled about the filming. "I've never seen Alicia study the script, or argue with the director, or suffer because of the guy." And I thought: here I would be the same - grown-up and self-confident. Alicia was friends with real stars and twisted novels with rock idols. Next to her, Brittany, in whose asset there was a half-child relationship with actor Jonathan Brandis, seemed like a child. The image of the "good girl", which Sharon was diligently creating, began to seem to Murphy too insipid. Luckily for the mother, after the "stupid" in Brittany, finally, proposals fell, and to become "grown-up and self-confident" - that is, to romance and hang out on Hollywood parties - Murphy simply did not have time. Perhaps, from the point of view of creativity, this was the most productive period in the life of Brittany. She agreed literally on all the proposals: secondary roles in the big cinema, soap operas, commercials with a good budget. "The more work I had, the more I was afraid that tomorrow everything would end, and I would return to where I started," she admitted. Many years of trying to break into the big film business, finally, began to bear fruit. And not only financial - in 1998, the actress was recognized as the hope of American cinema and nominated for the prestigious Young Artists Awards. But the more Brittany acted in film, the more often it seemed to her that she was underestimated. She compared herself to the more fortunate peers and did not understand what the problem was. "She's a good girl," said one of her partners in the movie "Do not say a word" Michael Douglas. Able and very sincere. But in the material from which real stars are made, there must be persistence. The abilities alone are not enough. "
In 2002, Brittany, after receiving the Young Hollywood Awards, said in an interview: "Most of all I'm afraid to turn into an" actress in second roles, the eternal girlfriend of the main character. " However, she was still not offered the main roles in blockbusters. And then Brittany decided to go on the other side - agreed to star in a non-commercial movie "8 miles. It was then that her personal life first became the property of the press. The starring role, rap star Eminem, never confirmed that he and Murphy had a serious relationship. Concerned by his unsuccessful marriage, he generally tried not to comment on the romance with Brittany. But she generously distributed interviews, telling about how good her new boyfriend is: "Our relationship went beyond the set. I recognized Eminem quite from the other side. He is a very reliable and decent guy. Beautiful father. A real man". However, what Brittany quite sincerely considered "relations", in actual fact was only her "five minutes of glory." As soon as the "8 Mile" was released, Eminem reduced the communication with Murphy to rare calls with the question: "How are you?". "You can start a romance with a partner on the site only if you are pathologically lazy," George Clooney once said. Absolutely obvious. Brittany belonged to the first category. Because already on the set of the next film - "Newlyweds" - she fell in love with Ashton Kutcher. "They fit together as well as possible," recalled Brittany's friend actress Winona Ryder. "Young, fun, beautiful ... The perfect couple." Murphy and Kutcher were not favorites of world secular chronicles, but quite often flashed on the pages of American newspapers. Really famous both became on the day when Ashton announced his engagement with Demi Moore. Brittany Murphy got the dubious fame of the abandoned bride, and, according to Hollywood reporters, her name on the list of those who should have been interviewed stood in the wake of ex-husband Moore Bruce Willis.
Brittany went into a blank defense. She refused to comment on what was happening and. according to friends, very experienced the break with Kutcher. Most of all, she was shocked by the fact that he went to a woman much older than she. Sometimes Brittany was ready to confirm the most unflattering rumors about herself, but in two things she was unshakable: plastic surgery and drugs. "I not only never used cocaine, I did not see it in my eyes," she said. "I can not stand even Sudafed (a remedy for treating bronchitis), not that cocaine: my heart starts literally jumping out of my chest." Some of my colleagues had drug problems, so I had the opportunity to consider this misfortune near. And if this happened to me, my family would not get off of me until I came back to normal. " With the same passion, Murphy denied having done rhinoplasty and increased her lips. These statements made no impression on journalists. Without stating directly, they nevertheless hinted very transparently that after parting with Kutcher, Brittany decided to improve her appearance. And she chose for this the simplest and easiest way, which, incidentally, repeatedly resorted to her lucky rival Demi Moore - lay under the knife. "I'm thin by nature! defended Murphy. - I do not need to visit the gym every day, spoil myself with diets and even more so do liposuction! I just do not overeat and walk a lot, but I do not spend whole days in a car. During one television interview, she quite sharply broke the journalist who asked directly whether her leanness was a consequence of drugs and anorexia: "I'm fine, and that's enough for this."
However, it is enough to look at what happened with Brittany, to understand: what in her life was the least - so it's order. After the break with Kutcher, she announced that she was marrying the music manager Jeff Quatinez. But less than a year later she left for his friend Joe Macaluso, an inconspicuous assistant to the director, whom she met on the set of the movie "The Little Black Book." "My new friend is not a Hollywood tycoon and not a movie star," she told reporters. An ordinary guy from Brooklyn, it's easy and simple. " Joe, of course, was no match for Ashton Kutcher. But he really cared about Brittany and helped at the moment when she needed it most. In the mid-90's, Sharon Murphy was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent a course of chemotherapy and left the oncology unit in the belief that she had overcome the disease. However, in 2004 the illness worsened, and this time the weight was more than serious: the only way to survive was radical mastectomy. Brittany fell into a depression. "When something bad happens, people ask: why did this happen to me? she was saying. So, I also do not understand: why me? What did I do to make it up to somebody to take my mom away from me? Joe McAluso did not leave her one step, and when Sharon left the hospital, he moved to Murphy's house. "He is very friendly with my mother," Brittany said. With Joe, we feel protected. But the cheerful interviews Murphy gave were just a screen that hid the unsightly truth. Brittany was losing weight, she looked worse and less and less often appeared in public. In Hollywood, talking about her "difficult nature", they decided that after plastic surgery she had a dependence on Vicodin, a powerful anesthetic drug. Interest in Brittany was rapidly dying out. She starred in passing roles and rolled down to a state that in show business is called a "non-star." She got into tabloid pages in 2007, but not in connection with the new work in the cinema, but because she got married. And not for Joe Makaluzo, with whom she was engaged, but for the unknown director and scriptwriter Simon Mondzhak. He had several non-commercial tapes and a bad reputation for a guy who mixes alcohol with drugs.
This marriage journalists immediately attributed to one of the great Hollywood mysteries. In fact, what could a young beauty have in common with a flabby loser like Monjak? How did he manage to subdue Brittany so much that she broke up with Macaluso and, in spite of the persuasion of her mother, agreed to marry Simon? "I met him a long time ago when I was seventeen," Murphy said. - We have known each other for many years, we have always been very friendly. We have many common interests. What could be more natural than to marry him? "Some of Murphy's friends believed that the main" common interest "of Brittany and Simon were drugs - allegedly by that time the actress already had a persistent dependence on cocaine. Joe Macaluso did not comment on the broken engagement, just disappeared from the life of Brittany. As, indeed, most of her former friends. After the wedding ceremony, held according to Jewish custom, the newly minted Mrs. Monjak practically ceased to go beyond the gates of her Hollywood villa. It seemed that Simon Monjak completely controlled her life. In the interview, he referred to Brittany as "the precious wife" and declared: "My duty is to protect her from the world. Therefore, not a single minute of our private life will leak from the walls of the house. "
However, on December 20, 2009, the solitude of the Monjak couple was interrupted. In the early morning, Sharon Murphy called 911, and reported that she found her daughter lying unconscious on the floor in the bathroom. Doctors of ambulance ascertained cardiac arrest and began resuscitation, which, alas, did not work. In the clinic "Sinai cedars", where Brittany was taken, the doctors had only to announce the time of death. The sudden death of a thirty-two-year-old actress caused a shock in America. Even before the autopsy, it was announced that Brittany had died of heart failure. But everyone was interested in what caused it. The press immediately leaked rumors that the house of Murphy was simply stuffed with drugs. Some journalists, referring to sources in the police department, claimed that more than ten types of potent drugs were found in her bathroom, including the infamous Vicodin, from the overdose of which at one time Eminem and Robbie Williams nearly died.
The Murphy family, stunned by what had happened, did not immediately realize what to do. Therefore, the first interviews, which the mother and husband gave to the deceased, amaze with a huge number of inconsistencies. First, Sharon stated that there was no Vicodin in the house at all. Then she said that all the drugs found belong to Simon. He, in turn, said that Brittany had laryngitis, diabetes and depression. Subsequently, the list of diseases Murphy added pneumonia, iron deficiency anemia and congenital heart disease, and the owner of the tablets and did declare her father, Angelo Bertolotti. Mysteriousness in this story was added by the news that on the eve of Brittany's death, Murphy allegedly visited a Russian banker's party, on which cocaine was offered to guests like black caviar: "Come and Take". However, there was no evidence of this, and a dubious version of the "Russian trace" was quickly forgotten. Family Brittany Murphy did not recognize that the actress was killed by anorexia and drugs. But the streamlined formulation of "improper use of strong drugs" is unlikely to deceive anyone. And the events of the following months confirmed that the death of a young actress is not a tragic accident, but rather a terrible regularity. After the actress's funeral, Simon Mondjak publicly cursed the Warner Brothers studio and announced that the death of his wife was entirely on the conscience of Hollywood bosses. "I'm going to sell a house in which we have experienced so many happy moments, and forever leave Hollywood, this nightmarish place that killed my precious wife," he said. However, it soon became clear that he did not have any rights to Murphy's property - according to the will, everything that Brittany owned was inherited by her mother. Monjak was so in need of money that he began to invite journalists to the empty family nest. There were rumors that for ten thousand dollars any TV company could get access to the bathroom where Brittany died. According to the acquaintances of Monjak. after the death of Murphy, he behaved like a zombie: "He practically does not understand anything, he is not able to communicate his thoughts coherently." This could be the result of grief - or the result of the action of drugs. Simon Mondzhak survived his wife for only five months. His body without signs of life found Sharon Murphy - a few meters from the bathroom, where not so long ago, Brittany died. One of his friends said that this is the case when death is good. And he hinted unambiguously that Simon's way to this end had begun long before his wife's death. "My main aspiration is for everything to turn out easily, without any effort," Brittany Murphy often admitted. She has been guided by this principle all her life - the maximum result with minimal effort: a taxi instead of a driver's license, a plastic surgeon instead of a gym, drugs instead of psychoanalysis sessions. And, finally, death is the easiest way to escape from the hardships of life.