Brittany Murphy Laid to Rest

Christmas Eve was anything but celebratory for family and close friends of Brittany Murphy, the 32-year-old actress who died suddenly on Sunday. Murphy’s loved ones buried her at a private ceremony at twilight on Thursday at the Hollywood Hills Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles. Those in attendance recited the Kaddish, a Jewish prayer of mourning and sang the Christian hymn “Amazing Grace,” according to a family statement. During the ceremony, her husband, Simon Monjack reportedly called his wife his “soul mate,” adding that love is by nature mysterious and that one can never know how quickly it can be taken from you. Others shared memories of Murphy and concluded the funeral with a reading from The Little Prince. Though Murphy apparently died of cardiac arrest, the official cause of death awaits toxicology results from the L.A. coroner, expected weeks from now.