Simon Monjack

Simon Mark Monjack (9 March 1970 – 23 May 2010) was an English-American screenwriter, film director, film producer and make-up artist. He was the husband of American actress Brittany Murphy.[1][2]

Simon Monjack
Monjack in March 2010
Born
Simon Mark Monjack

(1970-03-09)9 March 1970
Hillingdon, Greater London, England
Died23 May 2010(2010-05-23) (aged 40)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting placeForest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills
NationalityEnglish
CitizenshipBritish
EducationRoyal Grammar School, High Wycombe
OccupationWriter, director, producer
Years active2000–2007
Spouse(s)
Simone Bienne
​
​
(m. 2001; div. 2006)​

​
​
(m. 2007; died 2009)​
Children1

Early life

Monjack was born in Hillingdon, Middlesex, to a Jewish family.[3] He grew up in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire.[4] He attended Juniper Hill School, Flackwell Heath, then Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe.[4] When he was 15, his father, William (1949–1986), died[4] of a brain tumour[5] in Oxfordshire.[6] His mother Linda (née Hall) is a hypnotherapist.[7]

Career

Monjack directed, produced, and wrote the B movie Two Days, Nine Lives in 2000.[8] He received story credit for the 2006 biographical film Factory Girl about Warhol actress/model Edie Sedgwick.[9] Director George Hickenlooper contended that "Monjack had nothing to do with Factory Girl" and that "he filed a frivolous lawsuit against us [...] making bogus claims that we had stolen his script. He held us literally hostage and we were forced to settle with him as he held our production over a barrel." Monjack denied these claims.[10] In 2007, E! News reported that Monjack was slated to direct a film adaptation of D. M. Thomas's novel about Sigmund Freud, The White Hotel, with Brittany Murphy cast in a leading role.[11]

Personal life

Marriages

Monjack married Simone Bienne in Las Vegas in November 2001;[12] they were divorced in 2006.[12] That year,[4] he met actress Brittany Murphy.[13] In April[14] 2007, they married in a private Jewish ceremony at their Los Angeles home.[1] The couple did not announce their engagement beforehand and rarely made public appearances together before their marriage.[11] On 20 December 2009, Murphy died after collapsing in their bathroom.[2] The cause was later revealed to be pneumonia, with secondary factors of iron-deficiency anemia and drug intoxication from prescription and over the counter drugs.[15]

In 2005, warrants were issued for Monjack's arrest in Virginia on charges of credit card fraud, but the charges were later dropped.[12]

In 2006, Coutts bank successfully sued Monjack, who had been evicted from four homes, for $470,000.[12]

In February 2007, Monjack was arrested and spent nine days in jail, facing deportation, because his visa to the United States had expired.[12]

Death

In January 2010, Monjack's mother, Linda Monjack, told People that her son was "unwell, and the doctors are carrying out tests. On whether he has a heart problem, it is not really for me to say, you must ask him, but yes, there have been health problems in the past. I believe it's common knowledge, and it's been in the press that he had a slight heart attack a week before Brittany's death."[16]

Monjack was found dead on 23 May 2010 in his house in Hollywood, according to the Los Angeles County coroner's office. Law enforcement sources say the Los Angeles Fire Department was called there for a medical emergency after Murphy's mother, Sharon, found Monjack unconscious in the master bedroom around 9:20 pm, and then called 911. Paramedics arrived; Monjack was pronounced dead at 9:45 pm.[17]

The coroner's report found the cause of Monjack's death to be acute pneumonia and severe anemia, similar to the causes attributed to his wife's death five months earlier in the same house.[18] He was buried next to Murphy at Forest Lawn cemetery in the Hollywood Hills.[19]

References
  1. Fleeman, Mike (8 May 2007). "Brittany Murphy Marries Writer-Director". People.
  2. "Actress Brittany Murphy dead at 32". CNN. 20 December 2009. Retrieved 20 December 2009.
  3. "England & Wales, Birth Index: 1916–2005". Retrieved 21 December 2009.
  4. Simon Monjack, Buckinghamshire husband of tragic Hollywood star Brittany Murphy found dead, This is Local, 24 May 2010
  5. Simon Monjack: The short life and lonely death of a showbiz widower, The Independent, 24 May 2010
  6. Deaths England and Wales 1984–2006
  7. Brittany Murphy's Mother-In-Law: Simon Monjack Has Lost The Love Of His Life, Huffington Post, 23 December 2009
  8. Thomson, Michael (22 March 2001). "Two Days, Nine Lives (2001)". BBC. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  9. "Who Is Brittany Murphy's Husband?". Us Weekly. 22 December 2009. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  10. "Director: Brittany Murphy was warned about husband Simon Monjack but did not listen" New York Daily News. 27 December 2009. Retrieved 30 December 2009.
  11. Serpe, Gina (8 May 2007). "Brittany Murphy Made a Missus". E!. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
  12. MacIntosh, Jeane (22 December 2009). "Debts and Arrests in Husband's Dark Past". New York Post. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
  13. "CNN.com - Transcripts". Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  14. "Brittany Murphy And Simon Monjack: A History Of Their Romance". Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  15. Brittany Murphy's death ruled an accident Retrieved on 5 February 2010.
  16. "Brittany Murphy's Husband Found Dead". people.com. 24 May 2010. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
  17. Shoard, Catherine (24 May 2010). "Simon Monjack, husband of Brittany Murphy, dies of heart attack". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
  18. "Coroner finds Simon Monjack's death was similar to Brittany Murphy's". CNN. 21 July 2010. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
  19. People
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