Eddie Murphy knows he’ll “kick out” eventually. He shares his plan for how that will work while discussing his new Netflix documentary “Being Eddie.”
Eddie Murphy explains why he avoids attending funerals
Eddie Murphy explains why he pays for friends’ funerals — including Redd Foxx and Rick James — but avoids attending them.
- Eddie Murphy is the subject of “Being Eddie” (streaming Nov. 12), a new Netflix documentary about his life and career.
- In an interview with USA TODAY, Eddie Murphy shares his provocative plan for what happens when he dies.
- The film includes interviews with Dave Chappelle, Pete Davidson, Jamie Foxx, Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld and more.
A conversation with Eddie Murphy about his life has turned to death.
“I’ve paid for a lot of funerals, but I don’t go to funerals,” Murphy tells USA TODAY. In fact, the Oscar-nominated star says he’s only been to two in his 64 years: those for his biological father, Charles Edward Murphy, whom Murphy told Rolling Stone was fatally stabbed by a jealous woman when he was 8, and the comedian’s stepdad, Vernon Lynch, best man when Murphy married ex Nicole Mitchell Murphy in 1993.
“They shouldn’t even have funerals,” Murphy says. “I’m like, ‘This funeral is morbid.’ The whole people [in attendance] and seeing your loved one out there, and just emotionally, the whole ritual is too much.”
The subject of “Being Eddie” (streaming Nov. 12), Netflix’s documentary chronicling his life and career, suspects he’s an empath and is affected by the energy of others in a room.
In the 1 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 mentions that he’s paid for the funerals of his “Harlem Nights” costar Redd Foxx, and Rick James, Murphy’s collaborator on the 1985 hit “Party All the Time.”
Murphy says he also purchased a tombstone for William “Billie” Thomas Jr., the actor who originated the role of Buckwheat, and Tim Moore, who played Kingfish on “Amos ‘n Andy.” And there are friends and relatives who’ve also been taken care of, Murphy says. But for himself, he intends to bypass the custom of a funeral entirely.
“When I kick out, I’m not having no funeral and be laying up there and people coming and looking at me, lowering me in the ground,” he says. “I am to be cremated immediately. And there’s no funeral, and there’s no memorial or none of that s—. Just keep it rolling. None of that trauma. … It’s way too f—— much, a funeral.”
And Murphy has no concern for what happens to his remains.
“I don’t give a f— what they do with them,” he says with a laugh. “Just as long as you don’t have people standing around with my ashes. … I’m not trying to be in the urn while everybody’s crying. I don’t want to have that moment.”
“Crying is allowed,” he clarifies. “I’m just talking about the whole ritual of a funeral is just too much for me.”
While “Being Eddie” commemorates his past − how Murphy joined “SNL” at 19, celebrated his 21st birthday at Studio 54, and rode high on the success of films like “Beverly Hills Cop” and “Shrek” − Murphy prefers to live in the present.
“Every now and then memories pop up in your head, but I don’t wallow in memories,” he says. “I don’t pine for the good old days or old relationships. I’m this. I’m right here. I try to be right here.”
He compares the documentary to “going through an old photo album,” and says he became most emotional while reminiscing about his older brother, Charlie Murphy. The comedian and actor, who appeared on episodes of “Chappelle’s Show” and cowrote “Norbit” and “Vampire in Brooklyn” with Murphy, died from leukemia in 2017 at age 57.
“When I start talking about my brother, that was emotional,” Murphy says. “A little flicker, though, just enough that you feel it.”
The “Being Eddie” subject is a little perplexed when asked who the real Eddie Murphy is. “ I’m a unique human being, and I’m an Eddie,” he says. “And I’m a really creative person, and I can express creativity in different areas. That’s who I am.”
He’s also a proud father of 10 children, ranging in age from 7 to 35. His brood briefly appears in the documentary.
“At the center of everything is my relationship with my children,” Murphy says. “That’s my greatest accomplishment, and that’s my legacy is my children, and my world revolves around them. Everything comes after them.”
