Kim Kardashian has spent years haunted by the devastating impact of OJ Simpson’s televised murder trial on her family.
The 43-year-old reality TV veteran’s lawyer dad Robert Kardashian was a close friend of the acquitted murder suspect – and a key part of his multi-million dollar “Dream Team” defence line-up – after the former NFL star was charged with the 1994 double-slaughter of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, 35, and her 25-year-old friend Ronald Goldman.
In a 2020 episode of David Letterman’s Netflix show My Next Guest Needs No Introduction – which has resurfaced since news broke on Thursday (Apr 11) Simpson had died aged 76 from cancer – Kim revealed the trial “tore (her) family apart”.
Kim and her older sister Kourtney, 44, were teenagers at the time of the blockbuster court case and were torn between which divorced parent they would side with as it dragged on for 11 months before Simpson was acquitted of double murder.
She told 76-year-old Letterman: “We didn’t really know what to believe or whose side to take as kids, because we didn’t want to hurt one of our parents’ feelings.
“It tore my family apart, I’d say, for the whole time of the trial.”
Kim added she has battled not to publicly share her thoughts on whether or not she believed Simpson was guilty of Nicole Brown Simpson and Goldman’s murders.
She added: “I’ve never expressed how I’ve felt about that because I just respect his children.”
However, Kim’s mum Kris, 68, who was Nicole Brown Simpson’s best friend said she was convinced Simpson was a murderer.
Kim’s dad, who died of esophageal cancer aged 59 in 2003, expressed doubts over Simpson’s innocence – and cut contact with him.
Before he was arrested on suspicion of butchering Nicole Brown Simpson and Goldman, Simpson fled from Rob Kardashian’s home and led police on an infamous, televised 90-minute chase along the Los Angeles freeway while riding in the back of a white Ford Bronco driven by his friend Al Cowlings.
