The Smiley Smile Message Board

So, what do you guys think about Brittany Murphy's death? They're saying it was a massive heart attack. Something sounds wrong about that. You don't have a massive heart attack at 32. I used to be totally in love with her. Not just a crush...I mean, I would have moved mountains for that women. :) I'm actually quite saddened by her death.

It's always awful to hear about someone that young dying.  I wasn't a fan necessarily, but I enjoyed a few of her movies.  Fan or not, it's very tragic.  The circumstances do seem a little strange, but I'm withholding judgment until more information is available.  Drugs would seem like the easy answer, but who knows?  Sometimes people have unknown heart problems that go undiscovered until it's too late.  No matter the cause, I feel for her family, friends and fans. 

Highly doubtful in this case - for any film she was involved with, she would have had a full medical for insurance purposes: any such condition would have been discovered.

That's probably true, but look at John Ritter. He had something wrong with his heart that might have been there his whole life, and it seems as though nobody caught it.

Ritter was in his mid-50s. Yes, that's still on the early end to die of heart problems, but it's at least in the early end of normal. 32 is a whole different thing.

I see what you mean, Luther. I was just trying to give an example of a person who had an unseen illness all their life.

And that is legitimate. There have been examples of athletes--I'm thinking of several basketball players--who had heart problems revealed through tragic events. Of course, those were possibly aggravated by undergoing extreme physical action. But Hank Gathers and Reggie Lewis were famous examples who died on-court, Jason Collier died unexpectedly, and guys like Eddy Curry and Nathan Jawai had their heart problems uncovered only once they were into their 20s. So yes, it can go undetected, even after serious physicals: it is safe to say the National Basketball Association conducts very thorough physicals, as would Division I universities who give these guys scholarships.

There was this kid who went to my former school that had a heart condition that they didn't know about until it was too late. He collapsed and went into cardiac arrest at football practice earlier this year. It's always sad when a young person is taken away like this, I was always a fan of Brittany's work on King of the Hill and I was really shocked to hear about her passing. Totally out of the blue, it kind of reminded me of Michael Jackson, in a way. She supposedly had a ton of presrcription mess on her nightstand, so I'm curious to find out what that was about.

I was a HUGE fan of hers, and am broken up over her passing.

I didn't know of her work but a friend was a fan and said she had weight issues and may have become anorexic,,,,,,,a Karen Carpenter type of demise.