Poor Brittany.

Disclaimer: I promise not to turn this blog all TMZ-like. Just wanted to say a few words about this lovely young actress's unfortunate end.

I'm really not one to care about, pay attention to or even discuss what goes on in the celebrity world, but did anyone see Brittany Murphy's mom on the Today Show this morning? Ugh. She was a hot mess.

Granted, her daughter died a month ago so she's allowed to be slightly out of sorts. But she was clearly on something -- lots of something -- during her interview this morning. And what got me was how adamantly she stated that Brittany's death had nothing to do with drugs. A little ironic, no? It was seriously one of those interviews that was painful to watch. Picture one of Anna Nicole Smith's famous "speeches" with the slurred speech and dazed look. That was Sharon Murphy this morning. If Brittany's husband wasn't there to interject and make sense of what she was saying, I would've turned the TV off.

Long digression. Onto my point:

Regardless of how Brittany died and of how embarrassing her mother was to watch on national TV today, I'll always hold a spot for her in my heart. And again, I'm one of the last people to ooh and aah over celebs, but this one touched me personally a long time ago.

1995 to be exact. The year I first saw the movie Clueless.

I loved Brittany's character so much in this movie and I completely related to her situation (grunge attire and all... it was the 90's, what did you expect?). At that exact time in my life, my parents were contemplating a move. Not just a move to a new house across town -- a big, life-altering, scary move across the country. My father was considering two new jobs. One in St. Louis, one in Los Angeles.

As a shy, ugly-duckling of a 15 year old (with no fashion sense, mind you), the thought of moving from a small town in upstate New York to Los Angeles TERRIFED me. Then I saw Clueless. If Tai could do it, so could I. I dreamed of having my own Cher, complete with automated closet and hot older step-brother, to make me over and turn me into the most popular girl in the school. A girl can dream, can't she?

Back in reality, we ended up moving to St. Louis... a decision I'm SO thankful for. I really don't think I would've acclimated to the LA lifestyle as gracefully as Tai.

Long story short, thanks for making that movie, Brittany. It helped me get through some of those awful teenage years. Hope you're resting peacefully up above.