When Brittany Murphy died suddenly last December from a combination of accidental drug overdose and illenss, it was hard to ignore the questionable past of her British husband Simon Monjack. The first area of mystery is his claim to be a producer and screenwriter, when he only has one industry credit to his name, for Factory Girl, and even that credit may have been gotten through unsavory manipulations of the legal system, if Factory Girl director George Hickenlooper is to be believed.
Simon Monjack (sometimes referred to as Conjack) has a past peppered with financial and legal troubles, so most people gave him a side-eye when The Brittany Murphy Foundation was set up soon after Brittany’s death to benefits arts education for children. It turns out the suspicious were right: TMZ found that the state of California had no record of the foundation, and they had not registered as a nonprofit organization with the IRS (via PopEater). Immediately after that information was posted, the Foundation’s site was taken down, but today the site came back up with a message from Simon Monjack and Brittany’s mother Susan Murphy saying that they would be giving back all donations “until we have all our paperwork solidified.”
They claim that this was all just a misunderstanding, and that they thought it would be easier to set up the foundation immediately after Brittany’s death and then apply for nonprofit status later.
Here’s the full message:
Dear friends,
We began the Brittany Murphy Foundation to honor Brittany’s wishes and to give her family, friends, and fans a way of keeping her legacy alive. In an effort to get the foundation off the ground quickly, we established it as a private foundation with plans to apply for nonprofit status down the road. However, after some thought, we have decided instead to wait until we have our nonprofit status approved before proceeding to ensure that we can truly honor Brittany’s charitable desires. Any donations made up until this point will be returned until we have all our paperwork solidified.
We would like to thank the thousands of people who have reached out with kind words of love and support; you have made the hardest journey a little bit easier.
We hope you will bear with us and check back regularly for updates on the foundation. We hope to have it back up and running as soon as possible.
If you have any questions or want to write to us, please feel free to email us at info@brittanymurphyfoundation.org.
With love and sincere gratitude,
Sharon Murphy and Simon Monjack
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