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Late yesterday, when we were mercifully free of our online shackles, news that Brittany Murphy had been dumped by both agency ICM and management company Brillstein-Grey hit our inbox. (How many more hours of waterboarding will it take for us to finally learn to never, ever leave the computer?) Radar Online has the story, hearing from a source that she was dumped for the vague-but-foreboding "personal reasons":

Why the blue-chip firms set the 28-year-old actress adrift so suddenly—even though she was recently named the face of Jordache and has a number of projects in the works, including a Sin City sequel—remains unclear. According to a source close to Murphy, the skinny Uptown Girls starlet was kicked to the curb for unspecified “personal” reasons. [...]


Called for comment, a staffer at [former B-G manager Joanne] Colonna’s office confirmed that Murphy is no longer a client, saying only, “We wish her much love and success in her new endeavor.” Neither Berg nor Murphy’s sole remaining handler, BWR publicist Holly Shakoor, returned calls or e-mails by press time.

The Radar piece also makes a reference to Murphy's recent Blind Item Guessing Game win, but our official stance on the matter has long been that she's never even seen cocaine.

These "personal reasons" notwithstanding, our hearts go out to Murphy in this difficult time; having one's "people" reduced to a single flack is truly devastating. Telling that producer who corners you at a cocktail party with big ideas for Uptown Girls 2 to call your "person" makes an actress sound tragically small-time.

UPDATE: Murphy's reps state that she fired ICM and Brillstein-Grey, and Casablanca has stated that Murphy isn't the subject of the Jordache Junky blind item.