OJ Simpson has died of cancer at the age of 76.
His family broke the news via social media on Thursday. A statement read: “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.”
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READ MORE: Ex-NFL star OJ Simpson’s infamous police chase interrupted the NBA Finals on TV in 1994
Simpson’s prostate cancer diagnosis was revealed back in February, with his family confirming that he was undergoing chemotherapy.
The NFL icon is best remembered for being accused – and controversially acquitted – of the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994. Despite being cleared of wrongdoing, Simpson’s reputation was completely tarnished by the trial and he spent the remaining years of his life struggling to pick up the pieces of his broken life.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
The former running back, who played 11 seasons with the Buffalo Bills, reinvented himself as an actor before Brown and Goldman’s murders.
Following his acquittal for murder, Simpson was found liable for the two deaths in a civil suit and was ordered to pay $33.5million (£27m) in damages.
In 2007 he was charged with armed robbery and kidnapping, and a year later was sentenced to 33 years in prison. In 2017 he was granted parole, having served just nine years behind bars. Then, in 2021, he was granted early release from his parole.
Simpson was married twice and is survived by five children. He tied the knot with Marguerite L. Whitley aged 19 in 1967, and the couple had three kids together. One, tragically, died aged two after drowning in the family’s swimming pool.
After divorcing Marguerite in 1979 Simpson began dating Nicole Brown, having met her in a Beverly Hills nightclub where she was working as a waitress. They married in 1985, five years after Simpson retired from football. The couple had two children together, but divorced in 1992.
In June 1994, Brown and her friend, and suspected lover, Goldman, were found stabbed to death outside Nicole’s condo in the Brentwood neighbourhood of Los Angeles, California. A police warrant for Simpson’s arrest was hastily signed, with Simpson having pleaded no contest a domestic violence charge against Brown in 1989, and as such was a person of interest.
He was due to hand himself into authorities, but changed his mind and became the subject of an infamous low-speed pursuit by police while being driven in a white Ford Bronco by his former team-mate and long-time friend Al Cowlings.
According to Cowlings, Simpson was sitting in the back seat with a gun to his head, threatening to shoot himself if he wasn’t taken back to his Brentwood home. TV stations interrupted coverage of the 1994 NBA Finals to broadcast the incident live, with an estimated audience of 95 million people.
Simpson was eventually arrested and put on trial, which was later dubbed ‘the trial of the century’ by the US media. After 11 months, Simpson was found not guilty in a verdict that shocked the world.
Many cite the fact he had assembled one of the of most high-profile defence counsels in US history, with celebrity lawyers Johnnie Cochran, Robert Kardashian and Robert Shapiro fighting his corner, as reason for the surprising decision.
(Image: GETTY)
As a footballer, Simpson is regarded as one of the finest running backs of all time. He won the NFL’s MVP award in 1973 and also holds the record for the single-season yards-per-game average at 143.1. He spent eight years with Buffalo Bills and two years with the San Francisco 49ers before retiring in 1979.
After hanging up his boots, Simpson focused on his acting career, which began in college before he become a pro footballer. He starred in several TV shows and movies, including the The Klansman and The Towering Inferno and was considered for the main role in The Terminator – which later went to Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
