There’s an old phrase: If you don’t wan to shave, put on some slacks.

Well, there actually isn’t a phrase like that; not officially. But there could be, and in the case of newly-minted Golden Globe winner Mo’Nique, there arguably should be. The 42-year-old took to the rainy Globe grounds on January 17 wearing a dress, and later won award for her supporting role in Precious. The skirt covered her legs, but when she lifted it to keep rain water away, the public got a good look a pair of hairy legs.

“A long dress covers a multitude of personal appearance sins – until you pull it up,” commented a writer from the New York Daily News.

It seems, though, that this is, and has been, a deliberate act. According to LimeLife.com, Mo’Nique appeared on The View in 2006 and had plenty to say about it.

“I must show America what a real leg looks like… because it’s too much in the morning, every morning, to shave – to cut,” she said at the time. “I really think hair on a woman’s legs is a black woman’s thing.”

If she says so. But the cosmetic method of electrolysis is an avenue that any hairy pair of legs is free to walk down, Mo’Nique’s included. Laser hair removal uses pulsating light to destroy hair follicles under the skin, which slows growth considerably. After several such procedures, the “hairless” look can last up to six weeks or longer.

Mo’Nique is probably familiar with this option, and ignores it. Her call. But the laser method, at least, takes the dreaded razors out of the equation. 

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Brittany Murphy died on December 20 after going into cardiac arrest, and was subject to an autopsy on December 21. Toxicology reports are pending, so there isn’t yet a final word on how this actress died at only 32 years old. These results often take several weeks to determine.

However, official investigations point down some uneasy roads. A survey of Murphy’s bedside cabinet showed a daunting roster of pills. The Boston Herald revealed that she had prescriptions for Klonopin, Ativan, Hydrocodone, Fluoxetine and Carbamazepine , among others – medicines used for anxiety or depression, with one of them designed to treat both diabetes and bipolar disorder.

Other reports, including the Dallas Examiner, have also discussed her use of Vicodin, suggesting she used it regularly to treat pain resulting from plastic surgery. In late 2008, MakeMeHeal.com cited the possibility of Murphy having lip injections and rhinoplasty, since comparison photos showed facial differences. The actress never confirmed the rumors.

But Vicodin, plastic surgery and cardiac arrest were factors in the case file of an even bigger star: Michael Jackson.

“Mixing a number of these drugs could have resulted in her death,” Dr. Bruce Goldberger, a professor and director of toxicology at the University Of Florida College of Medicine told RadarOnline.com about Murphy’s passing. “At the moment, it is pointing toward an overdose – or, at least, that will have to be ruled out by the autopsy or toxicology results.”

And to be sure, those results are still pending; a verdict of death by overdose remains ill-advised. Murphy’s husband, Simon Monjack, is well aware of rumors about her drug abuse and has denied them as far as her death is concerned.

“My wife did not take anything on the morning of her death that would have caused her to be sick or ill, let alone die,” he told New York Daily News. “It’s beyond even the sickest speculation.”

At this point, unfortunately, nearly everything about Brittany Murphy’s death is only speculation – be it sick or reasonable. Medical reports of the near future, though, will either put to rest some of these troubling rumors or confirm them.

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