The notorious double murder suspect, who was later found civilly liable for the deaths of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman, passed away surrounded by his family at his home in Las Vegas on Wednesday night.
Simpson became one of the most infamous figures in America after he was charged with the 1994 murders.
An X post shared on his official account by his family said: ‘On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer.
‘He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren. During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace. -The Simpson Family.’
Simpson, a former football running back who played 11 seasons mostly with the Buffalo Bills, reinvented himself as an actor before Brown and Goldman’s murders.
Although cleared of the killings, his reputation was tarnished forever and the latter part of his career was marked by a series of seedy ventures.
After being acquitted, Simpson went on to be found civilly liable for the murders and was later forced to pay out $33.5million in damages to the victims’ families.
He faced further legal troubles when he was sentenced to up to 33 years behind bars for armed robbery in Nevada in 2008.
His death comes two months after it was reported that the he was battling prostate cancer and undergoing chemotherapy.
Simpson was pictured looking frail on a number of occasions earlier this year while walking around his Las Vegas neighborhood.
But in February he released a now-haunting video reassuring fans about his health and stating he was looking forward to the Super Bowl.
Despite a successful NFL career, Simpson was best known for his acquittal following his high-profile murder trial in 1995, dubbed the ‘Trial of the Century’.
He was charged with the deaths of Brown and Goldman, who were found brutally stabbed to death outside her Los Angeles home.
The circumstances around his arrest were equally salacious, with the former NFL star leading cops on a low speed chase after learning of the impending charges.
Millions tuned in to watch the 90 minute pursuit of Simpson’s white Ford Bronco across southern California.
The athlete crouched in the back with a handgun while friend Al Cowlings drove, before his eventual arrest in Brentwood.
At trial, prosecutors argued Simpson was linked to the crime scene through forensic evidence, but he ultimately walked free when jurors voted to acquit him.
Commentators at the time agreed that the defense in part aided by longtime friend Robert Kardashian relied heavily on anger around racial bias historically shown by the LAPD and argued that evidence had been mishandled.
A decade later, still shadowed by the California wrongful death judgment, Simpson ended up back in court charged with armed robbery.
Imprisoned at age 61, he served nine years in a remote northern Nevada prison, including a stint as a gym janitor. He was not contrite when he was released on parole in October 2017.
The parole board heard him insist yet again that he was only trying to retrieve sports memorabilia and family heirlooms stolen from him after his criminal trial in Los Angeles.
‘I’ve basically spent a conflict-free life, you know,’ Simpson, whose parole ended in late 2021, said.
Public fascination with Simpson never faded. In 2019, on the 25th anniversary of the murder, Simpson launched a Twitter account.
He quickly amassed hundreds of thousands of followers and soon made something of a name for himself as a presence on the app, often posting short videos of himself, in which he offered his opinions and commentary on a range of subjects.
Many have debated if he had been punished in Las Vegas for his acquittal in Los Angeles.
In 2016, he was the subject of both an FX miniseries and five-part ESPN documentary.
I don´t think most of America believes I did it,’ Simpson told The New York Times in 1995, a week after a jury determined he did not kill Brown and Goldman. ‘I’ve gotten thousands of letters and telegrams from people supporting me.’
Twelve years later, following public outrage, Rupert Murdoch cancelled a planned book by the News Corp-owned HarperCollins in which Simpson offered his hypothetical account of the killings. It was to be titled, ‘If I Did It.’
One person who remains convinced of Simpson’s guilt is Caitlyn Jenner, whose ex-wife Kris Jenner was best friends with Brown. Kris was also previously married to Simpson’s defense lawyer Robert Kardashian.
Reacting to the news of Simpson’s death, Jenner posed simply ‘good riddance’. The Olympian has not been shy in voicing her suspicion of Simpson and called him ‘egocentric’.
A talented running back, Simpson plaid 11 NFL seasons, nine of which were with the Buffalo Bills.
He became known as ‘The Juice’ on an offensive line known as ‘The Electric Company.’
He won four NFL rushing titles, rushed for 11,236 yards in his career, scored 76 touchdowns and played in five Pro Bowls.
His best season was 1973, when he ran for 2,003 yards – the first running back to break the 2,000-yard rushing mark. In 1985, he was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
‘I was part of the history of the game,’ he said years later, recalling that season. ‘If I did nothing else in my life, I’d made my mark.’
After a successful sporting career, Simpson forged a new path as an actor, starring in The Naked Gun and its sequels.
But his film stardom was set to be eclipsed by brushes with the law, which did not end following his acquittal for murder.
In 2001, Simpson was accused of tearing another the glasses off another motorist’s face during a road rage incident but was acquitted.
In the same year, the FBI searched Simpson’s home in relation to a suspected ecstasy right but he did not face any charges.
Six years later he was arrested for armed robbery and other felonies after he led five men he barely knew into a confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers in a cramped Las Vegas hotel room.
This time a jury convicted him and he was sent to a remote Nevada jail for 33 years with a chance of parole after nine, which he achieved.
Simpson is survived by his children Arnelle and Jason Simpson from marriage to first wife Marguerite Whitley, as well as Sydney and Justin Simpson from his marriage to Brown.
Whitley and Simpson also had another daughter, Aaren, who tragically drowned in the family’s pool at the age of two. The couple split in 1979, the same year as Aaren’s death.
Simpson and Brown tied the knot in 1985, but their marriage was turbulent due to Simpson’s extreme rages and allegations of domestic violence.
In 1989, Brown called police in a panic claiming Simpson was threatening to kill her. When cops arrived they noted she was covered in bruises and had a split lip.
Simpson eventually pleaded no contest to spousal battery.
However, the offence did little to dampen his burgeoning broadcast career and he was signed by NBC Sports just three months later, the Washington Post reports.
Orenthal James Simpson was born July 9, 1947, in San Francisco, where he grew up in government-subsidized housing projects.
After graduating from high school, he enrolled at City College of San Francisco for a year and a half before transferring to the University of Southern California for the spring 1967 semester.
His presence on the team propelled them to the national championship. In 1968 Simpson won the Heisman Trophy in 1968. He accepted the statue on the same day that his first child, Arnelle, was born.
His eldest daughter remained a staunch supporter of her father, even in the face of his 2008 conviction.
On the 25th anniversary of the Brown and Goldman slayings, Simpson said his family had moved on.
‘We don´t need to go back and relive the worst day of our lives,’ he said.
‘The subject of the moment is the subject I will never revisit again. My family and I have moved on to what we call the “no negative zone.” We focus on the positives.’
Credit: dailymail.co.uk
