Nicole Brown Simpson met OJ Simpson the day after she turned 18 years old. She was working in a restaurant when the 29-year-old football star walked in, and she admittedly had no idea who he was. The two would end up getting married in February 1985, and Nicole was murdered in 1994.
Friends of the couple described their marriage as volatile and dramatic, but the years following their divorce ahead of Nicole's death were also reportedly just as intense.
Nicole and OJ got married on February 2, 1985, and she was pregnant when OJ got inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the same year. OJ had nothing but praise for his wife at the time, telling her during the ceremony that she "came into my life at what is probably the most difficult time for an athlete, at the end of my career … [You] turned those years into some of the best I have had in my life, babes."
While the Simpsons were described as a fun couple, there were also troubling signs that something was wrong early in the marriage. For one thing, OJ didn't like to let Nicole out of his sight. Nicole didn't have a lot of people to confide in, and some believe that was on purpose.
One friend told the Los Angeles Times, "The truth is, no one really knew her during her marriage. She was never free to be herself or have friends. She wasn't available for that kind of intimacy."
Good friend Kris Jenner later told Ellen DeGeneres that no one close to Nicole knew what was going on at home. As she put it, "I didn't know that there was abuse until we heard and saw the whole thing unfold like everybody else and then heard the 911 tapes that were going to be used in evidence during the trial. It was heartbreaking … Me and some of her other close friends were all really surprised and shocked by that, because we felt we really failed her as a friend. It was horrible."
Friends also admitted that the problems often began with OJ's infidelity. As one put it, "He'd cheat. She'd find out. She'd get angry. She'd confront him. She's a strong girl and she'd confront him. And they would fight."
OJ was physically abusive. Her sister Denise Brown later testified that she and Nicole were once physically removed from the pair's home, saying, "He ran upstairs, got clothes, started flying down the stairs and grabbed Nicole, told her to get out of his house, wanted us all out of his house, picked her up, threw her against the wall, picked her up, threw her out of the house. She ended up on her — she ended up falling. She ended up on her elbows and on her butt … We were all sitting there screaming and crying, and then he grabbed me and threw me out of the house."
Nicole filed for divorce from OJ Simpson on February 25, 1990. She moved into a rental home with her children, and by all accounts, Nicole began to enjoy life as a single mom to her kids. The pair settled their divorce in October 1992, and Nicole received a payment of $433,750 and $10,000 a month in child support.
However, sometime between 1992 and October 1993, OJ and Nicole attempted to reconcile. According to records of police calls that Nicole made, OJ continued to be abusive. OJ also appeared to be angry that Nicole was dating.
Kris Jenner said that Nicole seemed aware of how delicate her situation was, explaining, "At the end of Nicole's life, I think she finally was at a place where she knew she had to be more vocal with what was going on and she was in trouble. The one thing she would tell all of us by the time, you know, it got to that level was, 'He's going to kill me and he's going to get away with it.'"
The entire Brown-Simpson family attended the premiere of Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult in 1993. Nicole and OJ traveled to Mexico with their children and spent time with Kris and Caitlyn Jenner and four of Kris' children. But by May 1994, Nicole was ready to break things off with OJ permanently.
In June 1994, Nicole began looking for a new home. Real estate agent Jeane McKenna recalls, "I remember walking up the hill there with her. We were smoking. Nobody smokes in Brentwood, so we used to sneak it together, and she was saying, like she couldn't really believe it, 'I can really do this. I can lease the house and move. I can really do this.'"
Nicole made plans to meet up with Kris Jenner on June 13, two days after OJ was photographed with a new girlfriend. Nicole and OJ both attended a recital for their daughter on June 12, and later that night called Nicole around 8 p.m. Nicole received a second phone call from her mother at 9:40 p.m., during which she learned that her mom had left her glasses at the restaurant they'd eaten at for dinner. Nicole said that her friend Ron Goldman could bring them by.
Around 10 p.m. the night of June 12, 1994, a neighbor heard a dog barking near Nicole's home. Near 11 p.m., another neighbor found Nicole's dog outside, barking. The neighbor noticed the dog's paws were bloody, brought the dog home, and a third neighbor volunteered to keep the dog overnight. It was clear the dog wanted to be outside, so the third neighbor and his wife took the dog for a walk.
The dog, named Akita, led the man and his wife to Nicole's body, which was lying in a pool of blood.
Nicole's children were inside asleep while she and Ron Goldman were killed. When her body was found, her head was nearly completely cut off, and Ron had been stabbed over 20 times. Her children didn't know what had happened to their mother when they were taken from the home by police, and her 8-year-old daughter called the family's home phone and left a message, "Mommy, please call me back. I want to know what happened last night…Please answer, Mommy!"
Nicole was buried on June 16, 1994.
