Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder and abuse. Reader discretion is advised.
The Life & Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson documentary sheds light on OJ Simpson’s alleged abuse and features interviews with Brown Simpson’s sisters. The four-part series premiered on Lifetime on June 1 and June 2, 2024, as the sisters offered an intimate account. The docuseries consists of multiple interviews with Brown Simpson’s sisters, friends, and family as they talk about former NFL star Simpson’s alleged abuse.
According to Independent, the Nicole Brown Simpson documentary series included entries from her private journal. These entries detailed OJ Simpson’s alleged abuse of her before their divorce and subsequent murder. Brown Simpson was found stabbed to death alongside her friend Ron Goldman on June 12, 1994. The crime had occurred outside her Brentwood, California home. Her ex-husband, Simpson, later faced murder charges and stood trial in 1995. The “trial of the century” concluded in his infamous acquittal.
Nicole Brown Simpson’s sisters gave news interviews before the documentary’s premiere. They claimed the docuseries is their attempt to “humanize Nicole,” reported The Guardian. The sisters—Denise, Dominique, and Tanya Brown—also hoped that learning about Brown Simpson’s domestic violence would help others.
What does the Nicole Brown Simpson documentary reveal about OJ Simpson’s alleged abuse?
Independent stated that Nicole Brown Simpson’s journal revealed OJ Simpson’s verbal, emotional, and physical abuse. The Life & Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson documentary shows entries she made in her journal detailing the domestic violence. One such entry was about their fight in the first year of her relationship with Simpson.
Brown Simpson wrote, “Early in 1st year 1977 in San Franciso after his [Simpson’s] baby died I found an earring in my apt bed on Bedford.” The incident occurred after OJ Simpson’s daughter, Aaren, died. He had Aaren with his first wife. In the entry, Brown Simpson claimed to have “accused OJ of sleeping with someone named Teri.” However, she wrote that he “threw a fit, chased me, grabbed me threw me into walls.” Then, he alleged that all her “clothes out of window onto street [from] 3rd floor. Bruised me, calmed him down.”
Per Independent, a second entry detailed an alleged incident at their Laguna Beach house. Nicole Brown Simpson wrote, “Beach house – Hit me, threw me up against the walls. Threw my camera, it broke the paneling – moldings off the doors to master bdrm and garage door.” In the Life & Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson documentary, the Brown family’s longtime friend Judie Manto also talked about this incident.
Manto claimed she visited the Simpson’s Laguna beach house and recalled the energy she felt there. At first, she said the beach house felt light and energetic. But, the atmosphere would change as soon as OJ Simpson’s presence. Manto described it further, saying, “It would be like a black cloud all of a sudden.”
According to USA Today, Brown Simpson’s journal entry in the documentary described another violent incident. It happened during Christmas 1988 while their family was vacationing in Hawaii. The entry stated, “O.J. threw me against walls in our hotel & on the floor. Put bruises on my arms & back.”
Nicole Brown Simpson’s sister Denise Brown claimed she witnessed a similar incident at the Simpsons’ Brentwood home. Denise recalled how OJ Simpson screamed, threw the Brown family pictures, and grabbed “her [Brown Simpson] by the throat.” She added that Simpson then “puts her up against the kitchen door, and he throws her out the door.” Brown Simpson allegedly fell on her “butt” and had “bloodied elbows.”
Other revelations in the Lifetime documentary included threats OJ Simpson made to Nicole Brown Simpson. Detective John Edwards claimed he responded to a 911 call to the couple’s house on New Year’s Day 1989. There, Edwards stated, “She [Brown Simpson] collapsed and started yelling, ‘He’s going to kill me. He’s going to kill me.” The detective said, “She had a hand imprint on the left side of her throat,” her lip was cut, and she also had a swollen forehead.
Moreover, retired police officer Spencer Marks claimed he responded to a similar 911 call in 1993. This happened after Brown Simpson and Simpson had separated. Marks revealed that the mother-of-two told him, “‘I know for a fact he’s going to murder me one day.'”
D’Anne Purcilly, also a friend of the Brown family, recalled that Brown Simpson confided in her about Simpson’s threats. Purcilly said Simpson once told Brown Simpson that he was “going to chop you up in little pieces and bury you up on Mulholland and no one will know where you are, not even your children.”
The Life & Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson documentary series is now streaming on Lifetime.
