Simon Monjack: From Bad Guy to Brittany Murphy's Loving Husband

By PopEater Staff Posted Jan 28th 2010 03:54PM

When Brittany Murphy died suddenly on Dec. 20, suspicions were raised about her husband, Simon Monjack.

Bloggers and news sites alike attacked the man who married the 'Clueless' star, nicknaming him 'Conjack' and implicating him in his wife's death.

But after a series of recent interviews, more is coming to light about the British screenwriter and producer, showing that he may not be the bad guy the media portrayed him to be.

"I've been grieving for my wife at the same time I'm reading on the Internet crazy stories like I robbed old women of their pensions," he told The Daily Beast.

PopEater editors have read the explosive interview and have pulled together highlights that go against many of the rumors that flooded the Web last December.

Critical Coverage Surrounding Murphy's Autopsy

After Murphy's tragic demise, Fox 411 columnist Roger Friedman told PopEater that Monjack had explaining to do.

"I think just this morning people are starting to ask: How does a 32-year-old woman die of a massive heart attack? What is going on here? I think certainly as questions are asked, Monjack has a lot to answer about what happened," Friedman told us.

In his interview with The Daily Beast's Gerald Posner, Monjack shows how he attempted to quiet his critics against any accusations.

He talks of the swirl around Murphy's autopsy. Monjack didn't want one, causing Perez Hilton to question his role.

In a post titled, 'What's He Covering Up,' Perez wrote, "What is Brittany Murphy's husband trying to hide??????? WTF was going on in the hours leading up to Murphy's death???? And was Monjack responsible in any way????? The truth will come out soon enough!" he added.

Monjack explains his decision to forgo the autopsy to Posner. "It was nothing sinister at all. I just looked at [Brittany's mother] Sharon's grieving face, and there was no way either of us wanted them to cut open this perfect 32-year-old girl. It wasn't about hiding anything; it was just the horror of thinking of what they would do to her body."

Fighting His Portrayal as a Career-Controlling Husband

Two weeks before her death, Murphy was fired from 'The Caller,' and reports suggested it was a direct result of Monjack.

A director of another film decided not to hire Brittany because of what he'd heard about her husband from the Puerto Rican set of 'The Caller.'

"Monjack came on the set inebriated. The producers wanted to keep him away. Brittany of course defended him. And so she was let go," Michael Z. Gordon described to Roger Friedman about what he had been told.

Monjack tells Posner what he thinks were behind these items: "Every story needs a villain, and everyone has decided it is me. The reports about the Puerto Rican set are fantasy. I was never, ever drunk there. What I did do was demand they follow union rules and after she had worked 12-hour days, six days a week, that she get the breaks she was entitled to. I was 'difficult' because I was the enforcer to protect Brittany. She was far too nice to stand up to directors and producers who wanted her to work to exhaustion."

Incidents from 'The Caller' set were not the only claims of career manipulation that Monjack has faced. 'Factory Girl' director George Hickenlooper -- who was sued by Monjack for a writing credit on the film -- claimed that he warned the actress about Simon before they wed, The New York Daily News reported.

"The last thing I told Brittany is: 'Do you know this guy? I mean do you really know him? Do you know what you are doing by marrying him?" At this point, Brittany became angry and told me she knew Monjack better than anyone and then hung up on me. A few months later I tried to phone her to see if she was alright and Monjack would not let me speak to her."

Hickenlooper also wrote on IMDB.com that 'Simon Monjack had nothing to do with 'Factory Girl.' He filed a frivolous lawsuit against us. . . making bogus claims that we had stolen his script. He held us literally to hostage and we were forced to settle with him as he held our production over a barrel."

"Hickenlooper is a liar. I sued my way into credit over plagiarism. He's a hack who's never grossed over a few million on a movie. He lives in some awful flat in Hollywood, and I drive three cars and had a gorgeous wife. Failure breeds jealously," Monjack explains to Posner.

Murphy's mother stands behind Monjack. "Simon protected Brittany. That is the role he assumed after they married and it's why a lot of people in Hollywood can't stand him," she said.

Claims of Drugs and a Stolen Fortune Follow Monjack

Monjack also insists he wasn't trying to live off Murphy's fortune. Back in 2007, Hollywood Gossip even reported that Murphy bought her own engagement ring.

"I spent over a million on her engagement rings. And probably $3 million on clothes," he said in his Daily Beast interview, causing Sharon to correct that figure to $3.5 million.

The house they shared with her mother, and the one in which she was found dead, was also in Monjack's name.

Monjack fiercely denies reports that Murphy was on drugs. "In all the time I've known her, she has never, and I repeat NEVER, done drugs. Not a line of cocaine, not a hit from a joint, nothing. She was anti-drugs. There are no drugs involved."

And all the prescription pills found in their home after her death? "They were almost all mine," Simon claimed, aside from an anti-seizure medication and medicine to treat mood swings during the female menstrual cycle.

He defended his wife again. "All she wanted to do was to make movies."