Everything the Kardashians Have Said About O.J. Simpson and His Trial

Patriarch Rob Kardashian Sr. was Simpson's best friend and served as his lawyer in the infamous 1994 murder trial involving the former athlete's ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman

Everything the Kardashians Have Said About O.J. Simpson and His Trial
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Julie Jacobson - Pool/Getty; Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

Long before the Kardashians landed in the spotlight as reality television moguls, the family played a major role in the infamous 1994 trial of O.J. Simpson.

The clan’s patriarch, attorney Robert Kardashian Sr., was one of Simpson’s best friends and served as his lawyer in the former football player’s trial for the murder of his then-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. 

Although Rob died in 2003 after a battle with esophageal cancer, the family’s complicated ties to O.J. have arisen over the years as the Kardashian brand grew. Read on for everything the Kardashians and Jenners have said about Simpson — who died on April 10, 2024 — and his “trial of the century.”

01 of 05

Kris Jenner

Kris Jenner attends the 2024 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Radhika Jones at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on March 10, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California.
Kris Jenner on March 10, 2024.

Karwai Tang/WireImage

Kris Jenner, who was best friends with Brown Simpson, expressed regret in a 2015 Lifetime Movie Network documentary interview that she “didn’t pay more attention” to red flags.

“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,” Kris said. “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.’”

Of Simpson’s “not guilty” verdict, Kris remembered turning to her “stunned” ex-husband Rob. 

The Kardashian matriarch said, “I mean you could look at his face and see it. I've known him my entire life. I know that like he was ... he was floored that that was the verdict.”

In a 2009 interview with Dr. Phil McGraw, Kris described how Rob told the family he would represent Simpson in the murder trial. 

“Right before the trial started, Robert sat down and wrote us a handwritten letter and just said, 'Look, I know you don't agree with what is going down here, but this is what I have to do for my friend,’” she recalled. "He believed in what he was doing and he was asking us for his support."

As a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2016, Kris said that Simpson tried to call her after the verdict. 

“It was very difficult because my ex-husband [Robert Kardashian] was on one side, you know, I was kind of on the other, the kids were in the middle and it was trying to explain this to children and then O.J. had called,” she told Ellen DeGeneres. Everybody lost so much that night. You lost everything you knew – I can’t even imagine being her family, her parents, her sister, were so devastated.”

Kris also cried while reacting to rumors that she allegedly had an affair with O.J.

“They printed a story that I was sleeping with O.J.,” she said. “That f---ing piece of s---. It’s really kind of pathetic that when rumors get started the media gives it life and breath and on the anniversary of Nicole’s death. It’s so tasteless and disgusting.”

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Kourtney Kardashian

Kourtney Kardashian attends The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating "In America: An Anthology of Fashion" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 02, 2022 in New York City.
Kourtney Kardashian on May 2, 2022.

John Shearer/Getty

Kourtney Kardashian has rarely spoken about the former professional athlete. However, in 2016, the Lemme founder sat down to watch the 10-part FX limited The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story.

On Snapchat, she posted two stories: the first, a photo of the screen captioned, “Finally watching OJ” and the second, a shot of David Schwimmer that read, “Episode Two. This is weird to watch.”

03 of 05

Kim Kardashian

Kim Kardashian attends the 2024 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on March 10, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California.
Kim Kardashian on March 10, 2024.

Taylor Hill/Getty

Kim Kardashian has opened up about the detrimental effects that the trial had on her family. Sitting down with David Letterman for season 3 of his show My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, she remembered Kris and O.J. “getting into it” over the phone when he called from jail. 

"My mom was extremely vocal on her feelings — she believed that her friend was murdered by him and that was really traumatizing for her," Kim said in 2020. "And then we'd go to my dad's house and it was a whole other situation there."

Her father would take her and Kourtney, then 14 and 15, out of school to go to court without informing Kris.

"It tore my family apart, I'd say, for the whole time of the trial," the SKIMS founder added.

On close friend Jonathan Cheban’s podcast FoodGod: OMFG in 2019, Kim detailed her last “emotional” encounter with O.J. before his 2007 arrest for armed robbery.

“Me, Kourtney and Khloé were in Miami in a club, and we ran into him in the VIP section. But it was like behind a stage or something, I don’t even know what club it was at. We all, I think, started crying,” she told Cheban.

04 of 05

Khloé Kardashian

Khloe Kardashian attends The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating "In America: An Anthology of Fashion" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 02, 2022 in New York City.
Khloé Kardashian on May 2, 2022.

Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Khloé Kardashian, who was 10 at the time of the trial, said on E! True Hollywood Story in 2009 that she didn’t “really know what to believe or how to perceive it.” 

"O.J. was always our Uncle O.J., Nicole was my Auntie Nicole," she added. “It's sad to see your parents go through so much pain for trying to be true friends.”

While on The Late Late Show with James Corden, the model was asked during the segment “Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts” whether she thought “O.J. did it.” Instead of answering, she chose to eat a fish eye.

The Good American co-founder also previously addressed rumors that O.J. was allegedly her actual father. During Keeping Up with the Kardashians' season 7 premiere, Kris suggested that Khloé take a DNA test to give herself peace of mind. However, Khloé was not interested in doing so.

“Mom, I don’t care what they’re saying,” Khloé said. “Seriously, my dad is Robert Kardashian. My other dad is [Caitlyn] Jenner. I don’t need someone to tell me who my family is. I have had the blessing of having two phenomenal fathers. I don’t need a DNA test to prove who my father is.”

05 of 05

Caitlyn Jenner

Caitlyn Jenner attends a In Conversation with... Drinks Event to celebrate the release of Sky documentary House of Kardashian. on October 04, 2023 in London, England
Caitlyn Jenner on October 4, 2023.

Mike Marsland/Mike Marsland/Getty Images for Sky

Caitlyn Jenner has remained adamant on believing that Simpson committed the crime. In her 2017 memoir Secrets of My Life, the Olympic athlete stated, “I believe he got away with two savage murders.”

She also revealed that Robert Kardashian Sr. had seemingly confessed to believing O.J. was guilty. Caitlyn recalled Robert telling her, “I would’ve been okay with it if they had gotten him in the first trial.”

During her stint on the Australian reality competition program Big Brother VIP, Caitlyn reiterated her allegation against O.J.

"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,'" Caitlyn said on the broadcast. “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.'"

Following the controversial athlete’s death on April 11, Caitlyn bid “good riddance” to Simpson with a post on X.

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