Sad news folks, it looks like 2009 has claimed another one.

Brittany Murphy – from 8 Mile and Just Married – has died. She was found unconscious in her shower yesterday and pronounced dead shortly afterwards, following what has been described as a ‘full cardiac arrest’.

An autopsy is set to take place on Brittany Murphy’s body as soon as today, and some outlets are already speculating on the cause – with everything from prescription drug abuse to cocaine to eating disorders to diabetes being chucked around. No doubt we’ll be told what killed Brittany Murphy before too long, but it’s never good to be presented with that many potential factors.

The good news is that 2009 is almost over. It’s been a year of almost relentless celebrity death. Michael Jackson died. Farrah Fawcett died. Patrick Swayze died. Bobby Robson died. Wendy Richard. Steven Wells. Tony Hart. Jade Goody. Natasha Richardson. Keith Floyd. Stephen Gately. Maggie Jones. And now, as if applauding the In Memoriam montage at the Oscars next year wasn’t already shaping up to be a near-herculean feat of endurance, we’ve got to add Brittany Murphy to the list as well.

Brittany Murphy died yesterday, aged 32. We’ll let The Boston Herald do the heavy lifting here:

L.A. firefighters responded to a 911 call from the home at about 8 a.m. yesterday. It was Murphy’s mother, Sharon, who discovered her unconscious in the shower… She was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center shortly after 10 a.m. TMZ reported that Murphy’s husband didn’t want an autopsy performed on her. The Web site also said some prescription drugs were found in her house and foul play is not suspected in her death.

An autopsy is likely to take place today, and that should give some indication of what killed Brittany Murphy although – if the rumours of drug use are true – this would mean waiting for the results of a toxicology test, which could take a number of weeks.

The Sun today reports that Brittany Murphy was hooked on painkillers following a number of cosmetic surgery procedures, so that’s one potential cause. Then there’s her appearance and erratic behaviour to take into consideration as well – at a recent film premiere Brittany was both startlingly thin and unsteady on her feet, plus two months ago she was said to be ‘frantically screaming’ about non-existent gunshots, plus there’s the film that Brittany Murphy was recently fired from for being difficult. Then there are her mother’s claims that she was also diabetic.

It’s knotty, but the truth will come to light before long. For now, at least we have her work to reflect on. Maybe you liked Brittany Murphy in Sin City, or maybe you preferred her earlier work in comedies like Clueless and Just Married. For us, though, we’ll always remember Brittany Murphy as the least appropriate Tinkerbell of all time. Sad.

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