House Where Brittany Murphy Died and Britney Spears Felt a Portal to Another Dimension for Sale for $18M

12/15/2024 05:45 AM

The "8-Mile" actress purchased the property in 2003 from Britney Spears, whose unsettling experience there reportedly made her leave and never return

A home with a dark Hollywood history is looking for its next owner.

The late Brittany Murphy collapsed in her Hollywood Hills home at age 32 on Dec. 20, 2009. Five months later, her husband, Simon Monjack, was found dead on the property.

In the 15 years since, mysteries have continued to surround their deaths — as has speculation about their former home's possible role in the confounding story, from reports of otherworldly encounters to rumors that something else within the house may have played a part.

The house has changed hands a few times since Murphy and Monjack's deaths, and the current owners, who purchased the property in 2020, recently put it up for sale again.

It's currently listed with Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles alum David Parnes of Carolwood Estates with an asking price of $17,995,000. Parnes did not respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.

The listing makes clear that the house has been "reborn," having "undergone a complete metamorphosis" since Murphy's time there. Its exterior has been "newly redesigned," its front entry has been "recently reimagined," and its interiors and outdoor living spaces have been refreshed. But a quick search of the address reveals its deeper story.

Murphy moved into the home in 2003 after purchasing it fully furnished from Britney Spears for $3.85 million, according to property records. She lived in the house for just under six years with Monjack, whom she married in May 2007.

On the day Brittany died, her mother, Sharon Murphy, who lived with the couple, called 911 when the Clueless star collapsed at 8 a.m. after experiencing flu-like symptoms for a few days. The Los Angeles Fire Department responded to the call, and the actress was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she was later pronounced dead.

Her cause of death was determined to be untreated pneumonia, combined with anemia and drug intoxication from prescription and over-the-counter medications, including painkillers and cold medicine.

Simon's mother, Linda Monjack, however, raised speculation that there was "severe mold" in the home before her son's death, telling the Daily Mail in 2013: "All I know is that before Simon's death, he was having hallucinations that things were crawling out of his skin."

That theory was previously dismissed by the medical examiner's office in 2010.

Both Brittany and the home's former owner, Britney Spears, reported that they thought there was something sinister about the place.

Spears, who was dating Justin Timberlake when she lived in the house, allegedly claimed to have had an otherworldly encounter that led her to leave the property and never come back.

The singer's former makeup artist, Julianne Kaye, recounted the situation on an episode of the We Need to Talk About Britney podcast in Feb. 2021.

"[Spears] had that place up on Sunset Plaza — and I'm just gonna say, this is really weird … She calls me … I had my friend do reiki healing on her," Kaye explained. "He had come up; I guess she'd had a crazy partying weekend and needed to relax. He left, and she swears to God that he opened some spirit portal or something, and these bad spirits had come in … and they were trying to, like, push her down the stairs or something crazy."

"It was so bad that she left," Kaye added, claiming Spears fled to the Casa Del Mar hotel and never returned to the house. "She goes, 'I know you're gonna think I'm crazy. I'm not crazy. I know what I saw. I know what I felt.'"

While Murphy never claimed to see spirits, she did seem to have a sense that something was off about the home. In a January 2011 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, shortly after Murphy's death, Monjack shared that his late wife tried to avoid the home at all costs.

"She absolutely hated the Rising Glen house," Simon told THR. "Every time we would drive up Sunset, Brit would say, 'Please, can we stay at the Beverly Hills Hotel?' I'd say: 'Honey, you've got to be realistic. We have our house, a 10,000-square-foot home. We're going to stay in it.'"

Simon told reporters that Murphy thought the property was "unlucky."

The home has been somewhat unlucky on the real estate market in the past. It was listed for sale and rent (most recently for $75,000 per month) several times in the last several years.

The six-bedroom, nine-bathroom, 9,400 sq ft. spread was briefly listed for sale by the current owners in the summer of 2024 with a price tag of $19 million before being removed.

The current asking price is a one-million-dollar discount, but after nearly three months, it is still looking for its next resident.