Brittany Murphy's Husband Had 'Unusual' Job on Set of Her Final Movie That Raised Concern, Says Costar (Exclusive)

Fifteen years ago, on Dec. 20, 2009, 32-year-old Brittany Murphy was found dead in the bathroom of her home. An autopsy listed her cause of death as pneumonia. Five months later, on May 23, 2010, her husband Simon Monjack died from a similar cause.

Murphy and Monjack married in April 2007, months after they first began dating. They rarely made public appearances together and lived very privately in their home, where those in Murphy's orbit said Monjack gradually prevented any form of direct communication with his wife.

In the months leading up to Monjack's death, many questioned his relationship with Murphy as more information came out about his alleged control and manipulation of the actress and her mother Sharon.

Some of Murphy's costars from her final film tell PEOPLE there were concerning signs well before the actress died. Katie O'Grady remembers how fragile Murphy was on the set of their movie Something Wicked, which was filmed in the summer of 2009, six months before her death. (It was later released in 2014.)

"I think everybody around her knew that she was going through a hard time," she says.

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Monjack, who was eight years Murphy's senior, was present constantly on set, keeping his actress wife by his side as much as possible, isolating her from the rest of the cast.

"It would be impossible to miss, but in between takes, she would sit with her husband, and he was always around her and in the trailer with her," O'Grady says. "I just got the sense that he felt he needed to protect her, and you didn't really have access to her."

O'Grady attributed Monjack's "protection" of Murphy to the star's frail state and severe lack of energy in the last year of her life and his shielding went further than the norm on a set as he performed an "unusual" role.

O'Grady recalls that at one point in production, Monjack took over Murphy's hair and makeup, doing it himself instead of allowing stylists to complete it.

"When I arrived on set, there was a strong understanding that her husband and her were a team," she says. "It was new for me to know another actor's husband was doing their hair and makeup, and maybe that wasn't the whole time, but certainly while I was there."

Something Wicked makeup artist Trista Jordan recalled in the 2021 documentary What Happened, Brittany Murphy? how on the first day of filming she rushed to set to find a "makeup disaster."

"Simon had taken a red tube of lipstick and drawn lips outside her natural lip line like a clown. Her blush was lopsided. Her hair was greasy."

Monjack also didn't follow through with the job. Jordan explained how part of being a makeup artist is watching the monitor while the actors film to make sure the makeup isn't changing. Monjack, however, was simply staring straight ahead. "He was in a catatonic state, and I snapped my fingers in front of his face to see if he'd react, and he didn't even flinch," she said.

October Moore, another of Murphy's fellow Something Wicked costars, met Monjack "indirectly" due to his constant presence on set, which she notes "could have created some challenges for [Murphy] at work."

While Murphy was filming, he "sat off by himself" and didn't "talk to many people," she tells PEOPLE.

Still, O'Grady could tell he was at the center of Murphy's orbit. "I personally did get the sense that they needed to be [and to] have their time alone," she says.

While the rest of the cast spent time together, Murphy was often sequestered with Monjack. Though Murphy didn't seem noticeably sick with a cough or cold, O'Grady says the actress was clearly low on energy and extremely frail, pouring what little she had left into her work.

"She just really wanted to do a good job, and she was putting all the energy, which was hardly any, into what she could do, even just walking to set or being on set. That felt like maybe that had been a lot for her at the time," O'Grady adds.

After Murphy's death, Monjack continuously denied any wrongdoing and refuted accusations that he kept her from seeing a doctor.

What Happened, Brittany Murphy? delved into Monjack's past, including interviews with his mom, brother and former fiancée, whom he allegedly abandoned while she was pregnant. The documentary, now streaming on Max, paints a scathing picture of Monjack as a manipulative and power-hungry man who preyed on a struggling actress.

"He was a disturbed individual who was used to conning people, and Brittany was one of his last victims," director Cynthia Hill told PEOPLE in October 2021. "There was a pattern of behavior that became very obvious the more research that we did."

Eventually, Monjack had completely taken over Murphy's life. His personal trainer, Harley Pasternak, recalled in the documentary how Monjack brought Murphy in to work out, but Pasternak immediately noticed something seemed off with the actress. When the trainer asked to speak with her team he discovered they had all been fired.

"She fired all of us, Simon is her agent, manager and lawyer and everything now. You have to go through Simon," he recalled them saying. "We're concerned because no one can contact her directly. You can only go through Simon. ... Simon was the only one who carried a phone." Amber Ryland, a journalist who reported on the screenwriter, added that Monjack had the landlines disconnected, making reaching Murphy or Sharon, who lived with them, impossible.

Related: Melanie Lynskey Says Way Friend Brittany Murphy Viewed Herself Was 'Heartbreaking': 'She Was Perfect'

Though the end of her life was shrouded in tragedy, Murphy's costars choose to focus on the beauty within the beloved star.

"Despite what may have been going on in her life, she was an absolute professional — she made everybody's job easier by being prepared and being on time and being easy to direct and being kind," Moore says. "She made me feel very comfortable and at ease and just had this kind of effervescent sweetness."

O'Grady adds, "My memories when I think of her are just, like, a bird that is so sweet and so soft and special, but so fragile and so deserving of every big, huge, beautiful, great adventure in life. Unfortunately, her route did not lead to what was so possible for her."

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