Nicole Brown Simpson’s sisters are telling their story.
Tanya, 54, Dominique, 59, and Denise, 66, opened up to People in an interview published on Wednesday, May 22, nearly 30 years after Nicole’s murder. “Other anniversaries just didn’t feel right,” Denise shared with the outlet. “But we decided 30 years was probably the best and the last time to hear her voice and tell her story.”
Tanya added that she imagines her late sister “dancing in heaven,” saying, “She’s not a dead body covered with a white sheet at the bottom of the stairs. That’s not Nicole. We want people to see this beautiful human being.”
The trio have taken part in an upcoming Lifetime documentary, The Life and Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson, which features emotional testimony from 50 participants who knew her. “The moment my mom got the phone call, I heard this screaming from my parents’ bedroom,” Denise told People. “It was gut-wrenching. I grabbed the phone, and the detective said, ‘Your sister’s been killed.’ I said, ‘Oh, my God, he did it, he finally did it.’ I knew in my heart [it was O.J.].”
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Nicole and O.J. were married from 1985 to 1992. Two years after the divorce, Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman were fatally stabbed outside of her home in Los Angeles. Law enforcement officials named her ex-husband as their primary suspect. Simpson, who died of prostate cancer in April, was ultimately acquitted on the murder charges in 1995. Nicole and Goldman’s families later sued Simpson for wrongful death the following year, for which he was found liable.
Reflecting on O.J.’s recent death, Dominique called the news “very complicated,” with Tanya adding, “This is a person who’s been in our life for a very long time, who wreaked havoc on our family. It’s like the end of a chapter.”
Lifetime’s doc, which airs June 1 and 2 at 8 p.m. ET., will share “shocking new details in the tragic story” and “shed new light” on Nicole’s life, according to the network. “She was my best friend and the one person I could not protect her from was the monster she was married to,” Denise says in the film’s trailer, referring to O.J.
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Denise and her siblings got emotional while declaring “it’s important” for people to “get to know” more about their sister.
The trio issued their own joint statement after the film’s trailer was released, noting that their sister’s life had been “stolen” from her.
“While her abuser is finally gone, it doesn’t take away the anguish we feel or the pain of her children who lost their mother,” they said. “We hope that by sharing Nicole’s story, it will help others recognize the signs and get the help they need and her legacy will continue to live on.”
