- 2 years ago
Nicole Brown Simpson's death has overshadowed her life. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re unpacking the most important overlooked truths about Nicole Brown Simpson, according to the Lifetime documentary series “The Life and Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson.”
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00:00Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're unpacking the most important,
00:03overlooked truths about Nicole Brown Simpson,
00:05according to the Lifetime documentary series
00:08The Life and Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson.
00:10As she was learning how to be who she was,
00:15she was murdered.
00:17In death, Nicole has become something of a mythical victim,
00:20whose life story is retold for her without always taking
00:23her recorded accounts into consideration.
00:26I honestly believe that this world does not know who Nicole Brown was.
00:32Meanwhile, most of the media attention has historically been granted to her alleged killer,
00:37ex-husband O.J. Simpson, who very publicly spun the entire tragedy into a mockery.
00:42In the mid-90s, the crime and trial captivated millions of viewers around the globe,
00:47who were appalled to see an American football hero tied up in a double homicide case.
00:51A man widely admired in this country is now caught in the web of a terrible tragedy.
00:57The even more shocking not guilty verdict and O.J.'s post-trial antics set the nation ablaze,
01:02further spotlighting the man who many believed had gotten away with murder.
01:06Unfortunately, during the entire circus,
01:08much of Nicole's personhood became lost in the mix.
01:11That is, until now.
01:13You know, maybe it's time to rekindle the flame of Nicole.
01:19Through conversations with loved ones who knew her best,
01:22the life and murder of Nicole Brown Simpson finally grants us a closer look at Nicole,
01:26the mother, daughter, and friend, not just the victim.
01:30No one should be remembered for their last moments, their last hours, their last day.
01:37Everyone should be remembered for all that went before that.
01:41With the news of O.J.'s passing recentering him in the headlines just before the release
01:45of the series, it's time the narrative finally shifts to Nicole.
01:48So here are the most intriguing details we learned about her life,
01:52the tumultuous relationship with O.J. according to her secret diaries,
01:56and what led to her tragic death.
01:59Nicole's true legacy was tarnished.
02:02Part of the defense team's bid to exonerate O.J. meant controlling the jury's idea of Nicole.
02:07Although the defense lawyers didn't set out to vilify her,
02:10they built their case on the notion that she was an active participant
02:13in the violent scuffles with O.J.
02:14It wasn't kind of one person dominates and the other person is submissive.
02:19They were both very forceful type people.
02:23Although this goes against countless eyewitness testimonies,
02:26police records, and evidence presented by prosecutors, the narrative stuck.
02:30Nicole was smeared in the news as a party girl who had affairs
02:33and received numerous abortions.
02:35The evidence will be these ladies would go out two, three,
02:38four nights a week and stay out till five o'clock in the morning.
02:41Her identity was picked apart and flaws were invented to manipulate public opinion.
02:46Nicole's writing is large and rounded.
02:48Someone who writes this way needs attention and approval.
02:52Although much of this character assassination was a result of the defense team's callous fables,
02:57some of the general public was also willing to hop on the Nicole hate train
03:01because of their love for O.J. and the tension that was still simmering post-L.A. riots.
03:05The rumor mill even produced a theory that her death was a result of her hanging around drug dealers.
03:10There was such an injustice in how they were painting her as this party girl.
03:15They were painting her as this person that she was not.
03:19It's vital now to take a more accurate look back at who Nicole really was
03:23in order to dismantle this vicious campaign and restore her true humanity.
03:28Nicole was a girl's girl.
03:30Nicole was raised in a household full of girls,
03:32and learned from an early age the value of supporting other women.
03:36She bonded especially closely with her older sister Denise,
03:39with whom she was moved from West Germany to the United States by their parents.
03:43Though entering a new country school system would seem difficult to navigate,
03:46the sisters persevered by leaning on each other.
03:49I was a senior and she was a junior.
03:52And everybody thought, oh, that's going to be so difficult for the girls.
03:55And I don't know, it wasn't difficult for us.
03:58And I think it was because we had each other.
04:00The duo's younger siblings, Dominique and Tanya, would be born soon after.
04:04We come from a really kind of a perfect family.
04:07We're really blessed to have the family that we did.
04:10Nicole even had two half-sisters from her father's previous marriage, Wendy and Margaret.
04:15This deep love for her sisters transformed into a deep love for her girlfriends later in life.
04:20In the series, a number of her closest friends speak out about how fiercely she stood by them.
04:25She was super loyal and she was your friend for life.
04:28She was so inviting and so lovely and just so airy and so natural.
04:32When one of her best friends, Faye Resnick, was struggling with substance use disorder,
04:36she insisted on getting her into treatment and supporting her on the road to recovery.
04:41She loved me. She wanted me to be healthy.
04:44Nicole said, OK, we are going to go visit Faye and make sure that somebody's there for her every day.
04:51Nicole was a wonderful stepmom.
04:53Many don't realize that Nicole was actually involved in the lives of O.J.'s kids from
04:58his previous marriage. Although she was incredibly young at the time,
05:01she took on the part of stepmother with grace.
05:03She's a great stepmom.
05:05O.J.'s daughter Arnelle was less accepting of Nicole, but his son Jason latched onto her.
05:10Because Jason didn't get along with O.J., Nicole stepped into the protector role.
05:14She would go up and give him big hugs and kisses and,
05:17you know, gotta try and understand your dad.
05:20Throughout the series, family friends comment on how Nicole went out of her way to make sure
05:25Arnelle and Jason felt welcomed and loved in their home.
05:28Nicole met O.J. at a young age.
05:31When Nicole first laid eyes on O.J., she was a young waitress at the Daisy.
05:35A nightclub he frequented in Beverly Hills.
05:37Nicole was just 18 to O.J.'s 30,
05:40and loved ones recall being put off by how obsessive he had already become.
05:44He kept coming in and seeing her, and he had this obsession about her.
05:48According to a family friend,
05:50Nicole had come back from their first date with her jean zipper torn off.
05:54Sadly, this would kick off a pattern of red flags.
05:57And I said, Nicole, what happened to you?
06:00He got a little forceful, and I said, why would you let him do that to you?
06:04Nicole insisted she was in love,
06:06head over heels for this celebrity who had taken an interest in her.
06:10It's just a girl from Laguna that met a guy that swept her off her feet.
06:15They fell in love.
06:17The context of their meeting and her naivety allowed O.J. to force his way into her life,
06:22where he would assert a disturbing level of control.
06:25Nicole's image was tightly managed.
06:27Years before Nicole's image was controlled by the Vulture Lake media,
06:31it was controlled by O.J.
06:32Just over the course of a month or two, he had just brought her in and turned her into
06:42like a starlet.
06:44As a public figure, O.J. was keen to have this bombshell arm candy by his side.
06:48But this meant that Nicole would have to carry herself in a very particular way.
06:52O.J. taught me how to hold my mouth when pictures were being taken,
06:58and how to hold my head, how to stand and present myself.
07:03It became clear to those close to her that she was being molded by him,
07:07and this control over Nicole even spilled over to her family,
07:10with O.J. insisting that all the women, including her mother Judy,
07:14had to have manicures and pedicures at all times.
07:17She'd say O.J. would hate to look at my toes right now.
07:20They're not painted right or something.
07:21And I go, what?
07:22This domineering force was applied to absurd degrees.
07:26Even when Nicole was pregnant with their first child.
07:28He would always say, you've got such a fat ass, why don't you go on a diet?
07:33She was pregnant.
07:34Reportedly, O.J. also forbade Nicole from giving birth naturally or nursing.
07:39She said he wanted her to keep the same body that she had.
07:43Nicole's marriage hinged on a fairy tale.
07:45Sadly, the physical abuse started very early in their relationship.
07:49Although she articulated her frustrations to both O.J. and her family,
07:53Nicole was willing to stick by him for many years.
07:56She dreamed of a fairy tale wedding, a beautiful home, and a lovely marriage.
08:00But this may have simply been a coping mechanism
08:02to distract herself from the reality of their situation.
08:05Nicole was under this illusion that Simpson's going to get baptized,
08:11and he's going to be a different person.
08:14So much had already happened seven years prior,
08:16you know, like infidelities and things like that.
08:19But she wanted to believe it.
08:21Nicole's mother also tried to overlook a lot of the bad
08:24because she was happy that Nicole had become entangled
08:26with such a successful all-American hero.
08:29And then the things that he would do to annoy Judy,
08:31she would just blow it off.
08:33The dark truth was that O.J. had Nicole pinned right where he wanted her,
08:37and she was at his mercy.
08:38He had turned her into the perfect wife,
08:41and that's what he expected out of her.
08:42Despite this, Nicole's friends commended her
08:45for her refusal to cower or give up her voice.
08:47This fairy tale illusion was fragile and bound to dissolve.
08:51And she knew in her heart that she didn't want to be controlled,
08:54and she knew that he was controlling her.
08:56And so she filed for divorce in 1992,
08:59seeking out a new nest for herself and her kids.
09:02Nicole actually reconciled with O.J.
09:05While the divorce was very public,
09:07Nicole's reconciliation with O.J. was a quiet but shocking twist.
09:11In all actuality, they started to see each other again
09:14because O.J. had been stalking and threatening Nicole.
09:16She genuinely feared for her family's safety,
09:19so she tried to placate him.
09:21I saw him last night in the bush.
09:22I don't want to get him, you know, too upset,
09:25because he's watching all the time.
09:26But this second chance didn't last long,
09:28as the abuse ramped up again,
09:30and Nicole was forced to call 911.
09:32This concerning decision to take O.J. back
09:35suggests not only her desperation,
09:37but the lack of support and resources
09:39for those suffering from domestic violence at the time.
09:42Nicole predicted her own death
09:44In one of the most disturbing scenes of the documentary,
09:47a family friend reveals that Nicole had actually predicted
09:50that O.J. would kill her.
09:51He'd put this idea in her head
09:53by repeatedly threatening her life,
09:54but she even forecasted the manner
09:56in which he would execute it.
09:58Nicole said at that dinner
10:01she had fears of being attacked from behind
10:05and being slashed by a knife.
10:08Tragically, in June of 1994,
10:10Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman
10:12were discovered outside her home
10:14with fatal stab wounds.
10:16Nicole left behind a secret diary
10:18Because she was so fearful of what O.J. might do to her,
10:21Nicole wisely documented evidence
10:23of his violent outbursts
10:25with Polaroid photographs and journal entries
10:27that described every ordeal.
10:29Nicole's secret journal is a diary of hate and violence.
10:33This secret diary would be discovered
10:35in a safe deposit box right before the trial,
10:37surely a key piece of evidence for the prosecutors.
10:40The messages from the grave
10:41poked holes in O.J.'s planned defense,
10:44ultimately opening the floodgates
10:46for witnesses who came forward
10:47to validate her writings.
10:48Yet shockingly, Nicole's own words
10:51were barred from court
10:52as they were determined to be
10:54inadmissible hearsay.
10:56Before we continue,
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11:12Nicole's death inspired advocacy.
11:14In response to the verdict
11:16and mistreatment of Nicole's memory,
11:17her sisters and many others
11:19made it their mission to advocate for Nicole.
11:21Her legacy was championed through campaigns
11:23to raise awareness about domestic violence
11:25and to create a system for reporting it.
11:27I hope that by keeping her memory alive,
11:31the person that she really was,
11:33it could help someone else out there
11:35that is another Nicole.
11:37Through books, TV appearances,
11:38and grassroots work,
11:40the fight to educate the public
11:41about the reality of Nicole's tragic story
11:43is still underway.
11:44And the life and murder of Nicole Brown Simpson
11:47serves as another tool in this battle.
11:49By collectively celebrating Nicole
11:51for the woman she truly was,
11:53the healing process can finally begin.
11:55I want to exercise from my mind
12:00a girl laying on the sidewalk
12:02in a little black dress
12:04and a pool of blood
12:04because that's not who she was.
12:07It's only through appreciating
12:08the authentic life she lived
12:10that we can truly seek some form of justice
12:12for her untimely end.
12:14I would like Nicole to be remembered
12:17for a beautiful, vibrant daughter,
12:21wife, mother,
12:22and someone to be admired
12:24for all her good qualities.
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