- READ MORE: Follow along with MailOnline’s live coverage of O.J. Simpson’s death
- Jenner, formerly Bruce, was married to Nicole’s best friend Kris Jenner when she was killed
- Famously called OJ ‘the most narcissistic, egocentric, neediest a***ole in the world’
Caitlyn Jenner celebrated OJ Simpson’s death today, tweeting ‘Good Riddance’ in response to the football star’s passing at the age of 76, thirty years after his ‘trial of the century’ tore the Kardashian family apart.
Jenner, 74, was married to Kris Jenner when her best friend Nicole Brown, OJ’s ex-wife, was brutally murdered with Ron Goldman in Los Angeles in June 1994.
Nicole and OJ had been divorced for two years but still vacationed with their kids and the Kardashian-Jenners.
Prosecutors said at trial that OJ killed Nicole and Goldman in a jealous rage, painting him as an ‘obsessive ex’ who felt that if he couldn’t have her, no one could.
Kris’s ex-husband, Robert Kardashian, went on to represent OJ at his murder trial – a decision that haunted the family for decades.
OJ Simpson, Kris Jenner and Bruce Jenner, as she was then known, are pictured with Simpson’s former girlfriend Paula Barbieri and a young Robert Kardashian before the murders of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman
Caitlyn Jenner reacts to OJ Simpson’s death 30 years after killing of his wife and her friend tore Kardashians apart: ‘Good riddance’
The Kardashians on vacation with Jenner, OJ Simpson, Nicole Brown and their kids in 1994 – months before her murder
OJ was sensationally acquitted of the killing, despite the mountain of evidence against him and absolute belief among Nicole’s friends that he was responsible for their deaths.
In Caitlyn’s autobiography, The Secrets Of My Life, she gave a scathing assessment of the former NFL star.
‘He was the most narcissistic, egocentric, neediest a***ole in the world of sports I had ever seen, and I had seen a lot of them,’ she wrote.
OJ and Nicole’s children, Sydney and Justin, are yet to speak individually.
In a tweet on OJ’s X account, a statement said he had died ‘surrounded by family.’
His two other children from a previous marriage remained close with him until his death. He had a third child, Aaren, with his first wife, Marguerite, but Aaren died shortly before her second birthday in a pool drowning.
Nicole Brown’s family are yet to speak publicly about his death, but Ron Goldman’s father said today Simpson’s death was ‘no great loss’.
‘The only thing that I have to say today is that this is a further reminder of the loss of my son Ron,’ Fred told DailyMail.com.
OJ Simpson died of cancer aged 76 on Wednesday, his family has announced. Pictured: Simpson in Las Vegas earlier this year
Simpson’s family released a statement confirming his death on X on Thursday
‘It is a further reminder of my son’s murder and a reminder about the many years we have missed Ron.
‘His death is a reminder that Ron and Nicole were murdered by him. I am not going react to my thoughts about him dying.’
He concluded: ‘I have nothing to say about him. My response will not be about OJ’s death but about he loss of my son’s life by him.
‘Thank you for calling. That is the only thing that I have to say.’
Robert Kardashian served as one of OJ’s defense attorneys during Simpson’s murder trial for the 1994 stabbing deaths of Brown and her friend Ron Goldman.
A co-star asked Jenner if it was hard watching OJ’s trial.
‘It was an extraordinarily difficult time,’ Jenner said. ‘Nicole was Kris’ best friend. Had been for a long time.
‘I was at Nicole’s house two days before the murder,’ Jenner continued.
‘Obviously he did it, and he got away with it, and at one point he even told Nicole, ‘I’ll kill you and get away with it ’cause I’m O.J. Simpson.’
‘And Nicole relayed that on to Kris at one point, and unfortunately she was right.’
Simpson was acquitted but later found civilly liable for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Pictured: The couple in New York in 1993
Brown was found brutally stabbed to death outside her Los Angeles home along with friend Ron Goldman, who was also killed
OJ passed away aged 76 at his home in Las Vegas on Wednesday night, following a battle with prostate cancer
Jenner (then Bruce, left) Howard Cosell and OJ Simpson during an episode of Battle of the Network Stars
Nicole, OJ, Kris Jenner and Robert Kardashian were all close friends in the 1980s
The infamous White Bronco chase as police were trying to arrest OJ Simpson in connection to the deaths of Brown and Goldman
Kris used to be married to OJ’s attorney Robert Kardashian Sr., who died of esophageal cancer in 2003. Kardashian served as one of OJ’s defense attorneys during Simpson’s murder trial for the 1994 stabbing deaths of Brown and her friend Ron Goldman
One of the most famous moments from the trial came when OJ put on gloves in front of the jury
Caitlyn added: ‘We were at the courthouse. We’re watching what’s going on in the other room, and even after the not guilty verdict, the first thing Kris turns around to me and goes, “We should have listened to Nicole. She was right right from the beginning.”‘
Simpson was deemed liable for the deaths in 1997 in a civil case brought by the two victims’ families.
In 2008, Simpson was convicted for his role in the armed robbery and kidnapping of two sports memorabilia dealers in Las Vegas. He was released from prison in 2017 after serving nine years.
Caitlyn wrote in her 2017 autobiography The Secrets Of My Life that she was not fond of the Naked Gun actor.
Simpson with his wife Marguerite, daughter Amella, 4, and son Jason, 2, in 1973. Marguerite was Simpson’s first wife
Simpson with Nicole, Sydney Simpson and Justin Simpson at the Naked Gun 33 1/3 premiere in 1994 in Los Angeles
Simpson was deemed liable for the deaths in 1997 in a civil case brought by the two victims’ families. In 2008, Simpson was convicted for his role in the armed robbery and kidnapping of two sports memorabilia dealers in Las Vegas. He was released from prison in 2017 after serving nine years. Seen in 1994
‘We have both come out of the same world of the male athlete with all its stereotypes and behavioral expectations, a type of identity that I come to call the male athlete gender,’ wrote the former Olympian.
‘I struggled against it because of my issues and extreme discomfort in that world and its constant objectification of women, and the endless bragging about f***ing to the point where you had to wonder what these guys were really hiding.
‘OJ was at the completely opposite side of the spectrum as me – women as eye candy and sex toys, physically abusive when he did not get his way or felt he was being defied, the loud life of the party anywhere and anytime, like so many other athletes.’
Caitlyn added: ‘If I looked in the mirror and loathed myself, I looked at OJ and saw a monster of a male athlete.
‘I wonder if this contributed to my feelings of awkwardness around him, that even if he embodied an archetype that people expected from me.
An old family photo with – from left – Khloe, Kourtney, Kris, Rob and Kim
‘There were other contributing factors in my distaste for him: he was the most narcissistic, egocentric, neediest a***ole in the world of sports I had ever seen, and I had seen a lot of them.’
Jenner also said in 2016 that she refused to watch the FX series American Crime Story: The People v O.J. Simpson.
She told E! News at the time: ‘I have not watched it. Unfortunately, I lived it. There’s no need to bring up painful memories.’
In 2015, Kris talked about Nicole and OJ on LMN’s The Secret Tapes of the O.J. Case: The Untold Story.
‘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,’ Jenner told LMN.
‘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 mother to Kourtney, Kim, Khloe, Rob, Kendall and Kylie added: ‘I will always feel guilty that I didn’t pay more attention and didn’t speak up when I thought anything was wrong or asked her more, “Do you want to talk about it?”‘ Jenner said.
Jenner was in court for the trial that ended on October 3, 1995, as she sat by ex Robert, whom she had divorced in 1989.
She also had to listen to a police call, played as evidence, from Nicole the October before her death.
Nicole said on the call that OJ was ‘going nuts’ and was ‘going to beat the s*** out of me,’ Jenner said.
‘Her voice, pleading for somebody to come to her house because she thought he was going to beat the s*** out of her, you know, I think that, that was so shocking to me because I had never heard that before,’ said the reality TV icon.
This comes after Kris’ sister Karen Houghton died at the age of 65 on March 18.