Simon Monjack, the screenwriter widower of the late actress Brittany Murphy, died on Sunday night at his Hollywood Hills home, police said.
Police Sgt. Louie Lozano said the 39-year-old, whose wife Murphy died five month ago at the age of 32, was thought to have died from natural causes, but said this was a preliminary finding.
"We have detectives at scene," he told the Los Angeles Times. "They are conducting their investigation."
L.A. Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey said emergency crews responded to a 911 call for an "unspecified medical need request" at 9.24 p.m. PT Sunday, the paper reported.
Fire Department personnel provided medical services to Monjack, but he was pronounced dead, according to a Los Angeles police sergeant, who declined to give his name to the Times, at the Hollywood Station late Sunday night.
In March, Monjack moved to set the record straight about his wife's death and also deal with rumors about his relationship with Murphy.
In an interview with Access Hollywood’s Shaun Robinson, he said suggestions that Murphy’s death and the death of Corey Haim were similar were "absurd," saying they made him "furious."
“Corey was someone that had openly used drugs for many, many years and had a problem,” he continued. “Brittany was someone that never used a drug in her life.”
While prescription medications were found in Murphy’s system at the time of her death, Monjack insisted she never abused prescription drugs.
He was asked about comments he made saying he fell in love with Murphy when she was a teen, but that he had been "very patient."
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“I mean, she was like very young. When she was 17, it would’ve been like dating a 12-year-old,” Monjack explained, dismissing the notion that some might call it inappropriate. “There was only eight years between us. It was more of just an attraction to the person.”
As a photographer, he often staged elaborate photo shoots with her. But he hit back at rumors that the two got married in 2007 because the British-born Monjack’s visa was about to expire and he was facing deportation.
“Brittany Murphy marrying for a visa – it’s so crazy," he said.
Murphy died Dec. 20, after going into sudden cardiac arrest because of "drug intake," according to the Los Angeles County coroner's office
Her death was ruled accidental, the result of pneumonia complicated by an iron deficiency, anemia and multiple drug intoxication.
