A friend who had known Murphy since her “Clueless” days shared a luncheon chat she had with the actress less than a week ago. “It was so sad,” said the source. “Brittany was so obviously deeply troubled and couldn’t stop talking about her concerns her career was rapidly going down the tubes.
"Even though she has several films in the can [tentatively slated for release in 2010], she told me ‘They are all nothing special ... nothing that will make people stop and pay attention to me again,’ ” said the Murphy pal.
The source also echoed comments from other Tinseltown honchos I’ve contacted, mainly that a big part of Murphy’s woes could be linked to her husband, Simon Monjack, and “his negative impact on both Brittany’s life and her career."
“And then there is his drinking problem. ... I’ve rarely seen him that he wasn’t drinking,” added the source.
Separately, several key Hollywood players — a top agent and a studio executive — shared virtually identical stories about Monjack, a British screenwriter.
According to both sources, Monjack had developed a reputation for using Murphy’s name as a “hook” to develop several film projects — none that went anywhere, once it was discovered Monjack’s boast of being backed by “huge financial resources in Europe” turned out to be untrue.
“I’ve known a lot of con artists in Hollywood, but this guy was right up there as being either a complete phony or totally delusional,” said the studio executive.
SEE...we AREN'T like TMZ...
