Nearly 15 years after Brittany Murphy suddenly passed away, Clueless star Breckin Meyer is opening up about the late actress.
While appearing on the Still Here Hollywood podcast, Meyer told the host Steve Kmetko that Murphy was one of the greatest people he knows.
“Britt passed away as an adult,” Breckin Meyer explained. “But she’s one of those people who I always think about. I wish I could see what she would have done now.”
Noting that Murphy was “crazy talented,” Meyer stated only the surface of her talents had been dealt with. “She was such a good singer, and seeing how many people cross over into music and movies, I was like, ‘Oh, I would have loved to see Brittany do that.’”
Breckin Meyer starred in Clueless as Travis Birkenstock, who turned out to be the love interest to Murphy’s Tai Frasier. Meyer recalled auditioning for the role to be easy since he and Murphy played boyfriend and girlfriend multiple times before appearing in the cult classic.
“And then Britt and I did King of the Hill together for 8 years,” Meyer pointed out. “And then I took over for a role she did – not when she passed away, before that, like the character’s voice changed and I took over, but she was still Luanne on King of the Hill.”
Breckin Meyer Recalls Being Just a Few Houses Away From Brittany Murphy’s Home When She Died
While continuing to speak about Brittany Murphy, Breckin Meyer stated the actress’ death hitting him hard.
He also revealed he was at Ryan Phillippe’s house, who lived five houses from her on the day she died. When they heard the sirens heading to her home, Meyer and Phillippe had no idea what was going on.
“When we all heard, it was terrible,” Breckin Meyer recalled. “Brittany was… she was a bottle of soda; she was the sun. She was so effervescent and great and for her to pass away like that, in such a s—y way and in such a toxic relationship, just was terrible. Not only because it’s your friend, but what everyone else doesn’t get to see anymore.”
Brittany Murphy passed away on Dec. 20, 2009, at the age of 32.
PEOPLE reports the Los Angeles County coroner concluded that Murphy had died as a result of pneumonia combined with anemia and “multiple drug intoxication” from both prescription and over-the-counter medicine.
“She was really sick with pneumonia, very anemic, and she was taking medication,” the coroner assistant revealed. “And all that combined killed her.”
It was confirmed that no illegal drugs were in Murphy’s system at the time of her death. At the time she was living with her husband Simon Monjack and her mother, Sharon.
Five months after Murphy passed away, Monjack was found dead at the age of 40. His cause of death was suspiciously ruled the same as his wife’s, which was pneumonia and anemia.