It’s one thing to act in a film about rocky relationships.
It’s another thing to live through them.
“During the course of making this movie, I went through two breakups,” says Brittany Murphy, who stars in “Little Black Book.” The film, which opens Friday and co-stars Holly Hunter and Kathy Bates, is about TV producer Stacy Holt, who snoops in her boyfriend’s Palm Pilot for information on his ex-girlfriends.
“There was a breakup when we first started pre-production, which was the actor. Yes, Ashton [Kutcher]. We broke up a month into it, and then two, 2 1/2 months ago, Jeffrey and I …”
For a moment, Murphy trails off. Her hands, which usually flutter as she talks, become still. She’s speaking of Jeffrey Kwatinetz, the founder of the talent agency The Firm, who proposed to her among rose petals at the Silent Movie Theater in Los Angeles in January.
“I was engaged,” Murphy, 26, begins again. “And the timing wasn’t right. It was a mutual break-up, and we decided to call off the engagement because it didn’t feel right. Most importantly, we are friends now. I just got an e-mail from him today. And to be able to sustain the friendship after you are no longer a couple, no longer lovers, no longer fiances and not getting married–I am proud of us.”
Despite her composure, Murphy concedes that getting over turbulent transitions isn’t easy. Like her character in “Little Black Book,” who sprawls on the bathroom floor wailing Carly Simon songs because she learns more about her man (Ron Livingston) than she’s ready for, Murphy also turns to music to heal.
Although she’s a huge fan of jazz, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” and Eminem’s “The Marshall Mathers LP” are her breakup staples.
“After heartbreak, there are different stages,” says Murphy, a self-proclaimed late bloomer who had her first kiss at 14 and first boyfriend at 20. “First it’s denial, then devastation. Then it’s the tears, and then after that it’s the chocolate. Then it becomes ambivalence, and you get your anger, your fight up. Then you’re back on your feet again, and you’ve learned, hopefully, a new lesson in life.”
Moving forward, often quickly, has become a career for Murphy, who made her Hollywood debut as the brown-haired ugly duckling Tai in 1995’s “Clueless” after a handful of TV appearances. Since that box-office smash, she made high-profile stops in “Girl, Interrupted,” “Don’t Say a Word” and “8 Mile.”
“Brittany Murphy has led a very unorthodox career,” says Albert Lee, Us Weekly senior editor. “She’s never been the Reese Witherspoon or Julia Roberts kind of good girl. She’s appealing and likable, she has charisma, but she can exhibit a deeper and darker side, a unique intelligence. She’s not afraid to self-uglify for a role.”
But since her star turn in “Just Married,” aided by her paparazzi-friendly fling with co-star Kutcher, Murphy has strayed away from neurotic characters.
Now a svelte bottle blond, she was most recently seen in the feel-good nanny film “Uptown Girls” with Dakota Fanning and provides the voice for a singing penguin in the upcoming “Happy Feet.” (Murphy, who has sung hooks on hip-hop songs under an alias she won’t reveal, plans to record an album soon.)
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale ([email protected]) and Kris Karnopp ([email protected])