The infamous Hollywood home where Britanny Murphy spent her last days, and which she purchased from a spirit-spooked Britney Spears years prior, is reportedly looking for a new owner.
Although multiple outlets such as Daily Mail, People, and Us Weekly have reported that the house was selling for nearly $18 million with experienced luxury real estate agent David Parnes of Carolwood Estates handling the deal, the property now appears as “Off Market” on online housing marketplace Zillow. The website informs that the “home is not currently listed for sale or rent on Zillow,” but was last assessed to be worth $12,302,583.
Murphy and Spears both feared the house

It was Murphy’s mother, Sharon, who, on the morning of December 20, 2009, found the actress unresponsive in the bathroom of the ill-famed Hollywood Hills home. Two hours later, she died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Five months later, Murphy’s controversial husband, British screenwriter Simon Monjack, was found dead in the house.
Both their deaths were ruled accidental, stemming from untreated pneumonia and severe anemia. An autopsy conducted at the time also found prescription and over-the-counter drugs such as cold medicine in the Clueless actress’ system.
According to People, Sharon would eventually sell the house for “$2.7 million, in 2011 after struggling to find a buyer.” Murphy had famously bought the home from Spears in 2003 for $3.85 million, fully furnished after the singer abandoned it on suspicion of it being haunted.
Spears’ make-up artist Julianne Kaye recounted how the “Circus” singer believed a reiki session had opened a “spirit portal.” “I know you’re gonna think I’m crazy. I’m not crazy. I know what I saw. I know what I felt,” Spears told her friend of the experience.
[Spears] had that place up on Sunset Plaza — and I’m just gonna say, this is really weird … She calls me … I had my friend do reiki healing on her … He had come up; I guess she’d had a crazy partying weekend and needed to relax … He left, and she swears to God that he opened some spirit portal or something, and these bad spirits had come in … and they were trying to, like, push her down the stairs or something crazy.”
Spears began staying at the Casa Del Mar hotel and never returned to the home. Murphy’s husband told The Hollywood Reporter years later that his wife also asked to stay at a hotel every time they drove up to the property. “She absolutely hated [it].”
The “cursed” home has been “purged”

If two deaths and talks of “bad spirits” had not been enough to chase buyers away from the property, Monjack’s mother, Linda, made sure to spook any remaining prospects by fueling theories that toxic black mold had played a part in the couple’s bizarre demise. Though the claim was investigated and dismissed by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office, when Sharon finally managed to wash her hands of the “cursed” estate appraisers did find “substantial water leaks … and significant mold,” reported Us Weekly.
That’s probably why, per People, the alleged spirit and mold-riddled home was “torn down” and rebuilt in 2013 and resold for a whopping $14.53 million four years later. In 2020, it was sold again at a loss of $2.3 million. According to Zillow, “the house was completely renovated and refurbished in 2024” ahead of the most recent listen.
At this point, we assume there are little to no remnants of the daunting celebrity mansion that made two of the biggest stars of the 2000s feel so uneasy, though we can’t attest to the resistance and durability of ghost portals.
The new property is a “private world of luxury”
Bennion Deville Homes, an L.A. area real estate firm, describes the revamped Sunset Strip manor as a 6-bedroom, 8-and-a-half-bathroom “architectural gem,” decked out with an elevator, a 4-car garage, laundry rooms on every floor, an infinity pool and spa, a gym, a massage room, a home cinema, and a wine closet. The main suite has its own private terrace overlooking the Hollywood hills, as well as two separate bathrooms and two walk-in closets.
“This estate isn’t just a home; it’s a lifestyle … a masterpiece, a perfect fusion of architectural vision and modern luxury.” Yeah, I’d happily take the ghosts in these conditions.
Published: Dec 16, 2024 07:59 am