Brittany Murphy, leading lady, 32; Reportedly died of cardiac arrest

Brittany Murphy in Beverly HIlls in March 2008 (David Livingston/Getty)

TMZ is reporting that actress Brittany Murphy, a leading lady in so many big films, has passed away this Sunday morning of an apparent cardiac arrest. Dead on arrival at the hospital, they say, and watch for this story to get uglier:

Brittany Murphy died early this morning after she went into full cardiac arrest and could not be revived, multiple sources tell TMZ.

She was 32.

A 911 call was made at 8:00 AM from a home in Los Angeles that is listed as belonging to her husband, Simon Monjack, the Los Angeles City Fire Department tells TMZ.

We're told Murphy was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

via Brittany Murphy Dies | TMZ.com.

Murphy played a tragic character in so many of her films – The Dead Girl, Girl, Interrupted, Don’t Say a Word, Drop Dead Gorgeous, 8 Mile, recently Deadline – so it’s a shame to see her candle snuffed out so young in her life She’s also got a couple of films in post-production according to IMDB, so we’re going to be hearing more about this story for a very long time.

Update: 2:55 pm – It turns out that the tabs and TMZ have had their eyes on Murphy and her husband Simon Monjack for some time. While Murphy apparently either quit or was fired from the set of a film in Puerto Rico in November, Monjack reportedly stopped breathing on an airplane and was rushed to a hospital from LAX, according to TMZ. USWeekly reported that Monjack had a criminal record and had in fact been arrested for overstaying a tourist visa, leading to some to refer to him as ‘con-jack.’ Monjack is a screenwriter whose credits include the film ‘Factory Girl,’ which centered on Andy Warhol’s Factory art collective in New York. This is only going to get worse.

3:03 PM – RadarOnline confirms that Brittany Murphy died this morning in LA of a cardiac arrest, adds that the coroner has been asked to take custody of the body from Cedars Sinai.

3:19 PM – LA Times is now reporting confirmation that Brittany Murphy has died as well (E-mail alert, no web link yet).

Former co-star in ‘Just Married’ and one-time boyfriend Ashton Kutcher, tweets his condolonces to Murphy and family:

The Wrap also clarifies the cause of death:

Barrows said cardiac arrest could mean any number of things, and was not an indication of the cause of death.

3:37 pm – Grim update from TMZ that Murphy was discovered unconscious in the shower by her mother.

Developing…