Eddie Murphy knows he will eventually be “kicked out.” He shares his plans for how it will work while discussing his new Netflix documentary “Being Eddie.”
Eddie Murphy explains why he avoids attending funerals
Eddie Murphy has explained why he avoids attending the funerals of his friends, including Redd Foxx and Rick James, despite paying for them.
- Eddie Murphy is the subject of a new Netflix documentary about his life and career, “Being Eddie,” released November 12th.
- In an interview with USA TODAY, Eddie Murphy shared a provocative plan for what would happen if he died.
- The film includes interviews with Dave Chappelle, Pete Davidson, Jamie Foxx, Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld, and more.
A conversation about life with Eddie Murphy turned into death.
“I’ve paid for a lot of funerals, but I don’t go to funerals,” Murphy told USA TODAY. In fact, the Oscar-nominated star says he’s only been there twice in 64 years. One is for his biological father, Charles Edward Murphy (who, Murphy told Rolling Stone, was fatally stabbed by a jealous woman when he was 8 years old), and the other is for the comedian’s stepfather, Vernon Lynch, who was Murphy’s chaperone when he married the ex-Nicole Mitchell Murphy in 1993.
“They shouldn’t even have a funeral,” Murphy says. “I thought, ‘This funeral is sick.’ All the people[attend]and you get to see your loved one, but emotionally, this whole ceremony is just too much.”
The subject of the Netflix documentary “Being Eddie,” which chronicles his life and career (released November 12), suspects that he is an empath and is influenced by the energies of other people in the room.
In the hour-and-43-minute film, which includes interviews with Dave Chappelle, Pete Davidson, Jamie Foxx, Tracy Morgan, Chris Rock, Tracee Ellis Ross and Jerry Seinfeld, Murphy says he paid for the funerals of his “Harlem Nights” co-star Redd Foxx and Rick James, Murphy’s collaborator on the 1985 hit “Party All the.” It’s time. ”
Murphy said she also purchased headstones for William “Billy” Thomas Jr., who invented the role of Buckwheat, and Tim Moore, who played Kingfish in “Amos and Andy.” And then there are the friends and relatives who helped, Murphy said. But he himself plans to avoid funeral customs altogether.
“It’s not like I’m going to leave my house and lie there without a funeral and people will come and see me and push me to the ground,” he says. “I’m going to be cremated right away. And there’s no funeral, there’s no memorial, there’s no memorial or anything. Just keep going. There’s no trauma like that. … It’s too bad, funeral.”
And Murphy doesn’t care what happens to his body.
“I don’t care how they treat them,” he says with a laugh. “Unless there’s someone around to hold my ashes…I don’t want to be in the urn while everyone else is crying. I don’t want to experience that moment.”
“You are allowed to cry,” he clarified. “What I’m talking about is the whole ritual of a funeral is just too much for me.”
While “Being Eddie” is a tribute to Murphy’s past, when he joined “SNL” at age 19, celebrated his 21st birthday at Studio 54, and rode the success of films like “Beverly Hills Cop” and “Shrek,” Murphy prefers to live in the present.
“Sometimes memories come to mind, but I don’t dwell on them,” he says. “I’m not longing for the good old days or the old relationships. This is who I am. I’m here. I try to be here.”
He likens the documentary to “looking through an old photo album” and says he was most emotional when remembering his brother Charlie Murphy. The comedian and actor, who appeared on an episode of “Chappelle’s Show” and co-wrote “Norbit” and “Vampire in Brooklyn” with Murphy, died of leukemia in 2017 at age 57.
“When I started talking about my brother, I got very emotional,” Murphy said. “It flickers a little, but you can just feel it.”
The subject of “being Eddie” gets a little confusing when asked who the real Eddie Murphy is. “I’m a unique person, Eddie,” he says. “And I’m a really creative person and can express my creativity in many different areas. That’s who I am.”
He is also the proud father of 10 children ranging in age from 7 to 35 years old. His children appear briefly in the documentary.
“At the heart of everything is our relationship with our children,” Murphy says. “That’s my greatest accomplishment, my legacy is my children, my world revolves around them. Everything comes after them.”
