My spider plant is dead...I think?

A friend of mine gave me one of his spider plants about a week ago and it looks nothing like it did then. Instead of the legs or whatever they're called standing up on their own, they are all flat and saggy looking. It now has brown tips and no matter what I do it has brown tips. is there anything I can do to nurse it back to health? I do not give it water everyday and when I do it is distilled or purified. Maybe once or twice since I have had it. I sit it outside in the front on a stool for several hours a day (8+). But not in the direct sunlight, in fact it is totally shaded. I just recently painted the pot that it lives in, could that be what killed it? PLEASE HELP...