Amy Heckerling’s Clueless is one of the best ’90s movies of all time, and is still regularly re-watched by folks with a Paramount+ subscription. It’s still a beloved part of the pop culture landscape, in no small part thanks to the iconic performances by Alicia Silverstone and late actress Brittany Murphy. Although one co-star recently got honest about why she wasn’t surprised by Murphy’s death in 2009.
Despite the years that have passed, Murphy’s death is still a touchy subject for fans. Case in point: Murphy got the lifetime movie treatment back in 2014. In a clip from the Still Here podcast’s YouTube, Amber actress Elisa Donovan got honest about her reaction to her co-star’s death. She said:
Someone called me and was like, ‘Did you hear about Brittany?’ And I said, ‘No, Brittany who?’ And they said Murphy. And then they told me that she had died, but nobody knew [how]. And I have to say, my first thought was I wasn’t really surprised.
Well, that was honest. While Murphy’s death at age 32 years old was shocking to the general public, that wasn’t Donovan’s reaction. On paper her above quote might seem cold, but it turns out that she had been getting updated about her Clueless co-star from a mutual friend.
Latest Videos FromCinemablend
Elisa Donovan’s Amber has some of Clueless‘ most quotable lines, but she also had a unique perspective about what was happening with Brittany Murphy prior to her passing. It turns out that she and the late actress shared a hairdresser leading up to her death, and she would offer updates to Donavan. As Donovan put it:
She would, in confidence, say to me, ‘I’m worried about [Brittany],’ because she would go to her house. And I said, ‘I am worried about her but I’m not a close enough friend of hers,’ you know? I’m not in her life. And she was on this trajectory.
The actress also recalled the last time she saw Brittany Murphy, as they both attended the GLAAD Awards. In addition to what she’d heard from their mutual hairstylist, at the event she noticed that the Sin City actress’ knees appeared to be buckling. She said that she looked at her colleague and friend and thought that she wasn’t healthy. The Clueless star thought she might have had an easting disorder and/or an issue with drugs.
As fans might remember, Murphy’s cause of death was ruled as pneumonia, exacerbated by anemia and addiction to prescription medications. Her husband would die from similar causes just months later. There was also some debate about the cause, with some thinking that toxic mold from her house was a factor.
Clueless is streaming now on Paramount+. There’s also a TV sequel in development for the streamer, with Alicia Silverstone reprising her role as Cher. That title is currently on the 2026 TV schedule, so we’ll have to wait and see when it happens, and if there are any tributes to Brittany Murphy.
