Alicia Silverstone: "I always felt connected to her as we shared a very special experience in our lives together. I feel love in my heart for her - and hope she is at peace. This is truly sad. I loved working with Brittany. She was so talented, so warm, and so sweet."

Ashton Kutcher, her Just Married co-star and one-time boyfriend (obviously) Tweeted: "2day the world lost a little piece of sunshine. My deepest condolences go out 2 Brittany's family, her husband, & her amazing mother Sharon."

Alyssa Milano: "Brittney Murphy and I did a USO Tour together in 2003. She was a sweet soul, with a lot of talent and heart."

Whoopi Goldberg: "It is a terrible loss for us as actors and to the industry but even greater for her family. My thoughts and prayers are with them."

Mena Suvari: "I'm just sooo devastated now. Found out Brittany Murphy died earlier this morning + I'm shocked. We worked together + I knew her for yrs. And ALL my love to her family and friends. May God be with you in this difficult time."

Lindsay Lohan: "My deepest condolences go out to all of Brittany Murphy's loved ones & may she rest in peace. She was a great talent w/a beautiful soul xo"
 

The rumour mill is well in motion, spouting out stories about Brittany being addicted to Vicodin after a series of plastic surgery procedures. Others are saying she simply stopped eating. No doubt they will continue to churn out until the release of the post mortem result, which is due to take place tomorrow (despite Brittany's husband, Simon Monjack, telling "Cedars-Sinai medical staff that he didn't want an autopsy.") In the meantime, the doctors are saying it was "natural causes." As if there's anything natural about "celebrity."

Here's a story I posted way back on January 22nd 2008, when Heath Ledger died prematurely. It would be great to be able to say things have progressed in some way. Clearly they haven't.

"'OOoooOoh, doing a celebrity gossip column, that's bound to be FUN!' It's rare that a positive thought enters my brain, but this is what happened upon getting this job several moons ago. However, as time steamrolls on, the line between entertainment and unbridled voyeurism is becoming increasingly blurred. Prattling about who's wearing (the face off) who, who's back on the market or (even) who's forgotten to put on underwear has morphed into watching Amy Winehouse smoking crack in her home, writing about the progress of Britney Spears' decline through her now constant use of an unspecified British accent, and reporting on a worrying amount of overdoses... The destructive behaviour of celebrities, which often culminates in death by overdose, sadly isn't a new phenomenon. Marilyn Monroe got the ball rolling a number of decades ago, Judy Garland, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, John Belushi, Kurt Cobain, River Phoenix, Chris Penn, Anna Nicole Smith and her son... we could go on and on. And it's not just a 'folly of youth' thing, either - Ike Turner died of a cocaine overdose recently. Indeed, it's not something new, but how we're dealing with it is. The front cover of this week's Heat magazine wears the headline 'Britney: Dead in Six Months.' Then there are websites like whenisbritneygoingtodie.com and whenwillamywinehousedie.com. If you get the date right you win a PS3 or an iPod Touch... Life has become so superficial, it's only a matter of time before we come full circle and we're back in Roman times - deciding if those trying to survive under the public's glare live or die... Who is to blame? Us for buying the magazines? If we collectively ceased reading headlines, would the press wheel stop or would they just start pushing more salacious content? Heath Ledger was found with sleeping pills and antihistamines beside his bed. He was reportedly suffering from pneumonia. The police and his family have both stated his death could've been accidental. Many media outlets, however, feel the need to ignore this, instead opting to report that 'he was found naked.' Big whoop, he was in bed, lots of people sleep naked. 'There was Xanex and Valium found on the premises.' Perhaps, but they were not in his room and could've belonged to anyone as the apartment in question was not his. Are these outlets intent on tainting a memory?... Who else can we pin this on, the celebrities themselves? They asked for the fame and thus the constant glowering intrusion on their lives, yeah? Or how about their parents; those that court the media unashamedly, providing updates on their child's battle with drugs, brokering deals with magazines for first dibs on pictures of their 16-year-old daughter's baby, or constantly shoehorning their children into starring in reality shows? Or how about Western societies where religion plays little part in lives anymore. Famine and hard graft are things of the past in our part of the planet, so we sit at our desks all day trying to keep our brains occupied... Surely the Internet isn't to blame?!... Ok, so nothing's been answered, I've just gratuitously ranted for the last 5 minutes and will probably take this down shortly after posting. No doubt Paris Hilton will do something else fantastically vacuous at Sundance tomorrow and the celebrity wheel of fortune will trundle on."