What the Kardashians Have Said About O.J. Simpson Over the Years: It ‘Tore My Family Apart’

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What the Kardashians Have Said About O.J. Simpson Over the Years: It 'Tore My Family Apart'

It's hard to remember after 20 seasons of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, but at one point, the late Robert Kardashian was the only famous member of the family — and it was because of his friendship with O.J. Simpson. After the former NFL player was arrested in connection to the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, in 1994, he enlisted Kardashian to become part of his legal team. Though O.J. was eventually acquitted of all charges in his criminal trial, the University of Southern California alum later expressed doubt that his friend was truly innocent, telling Barbara Walters in 1996 that he had "doubts" about his former client's exoneration. Kardashian died of esophageal cancer in September 2003, but his involvement with the trial has followed the rest of his family ever since. The late attorney married Kris Jenner in 1978 and the former couple went on to welcome daughters Kourtney Kardashian, Kim Kardashian and Khloé Kardashian, along with son Rob Kardashian. Jenner divorced her first husband in 1991. Despite their split, the producer remained close with Robert and their mutual friends the Simpsons. After Nicole's murder, however, Jenner made it clear that she was not happy with her ex-husband's involvement in the case. [jwplayer xMYaUDc0-zhNYySv2] "The only thing I discuss with [Robert] is the children, we just keep it about the kids," the momager told Good Morning America in September 1995. "Because I think what would happen is our opinions are so obviously black and white, that what is that going to do?" Speaking about the situation during a 2009 appearance on Dr. Phil, the reality star said that the trial and its aftermath were "devastating" for her family. "You have Robert Kardashian on the defense team defending [O.J.'s] team, and you have me, my girlfriend's dead," she explained. "It was a very difficult situation and what we needed to do was band together as a family and decide that this isn't going to tear us apart." Kim, who was 13 at the time of O.J.'s arrest, recalled that she and her sisters felt torn between their parents, who were obviously in disagreement over the trial. "Kourtney and I would go to the trial with my dad, and we'd sit on one side, and I remember looking over and my mom was on the other side sitting next to Nicole's parents, and there was so much tension," she said during an April 2009 episode of E! True Hollywood Story. "If we're siding with this one, my mom and [Caitlyn Jenner] were upset, and if we're over here, then my dad's upset." Keep scrolling for more quotes from the family about their relationship to O.J.: [podcast_block]

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Kris and Robert Clashed Over the 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,'" Kris recalled during a 2009 interview with Dr. Phil McGraw. "He believed in what he was doing and he was asking us for his support."

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It Was Hard on the Family

Caitlyn, who married Kris in 1991 after her divorce from her Robert, also felt the effects of the tension on the family. "I remember the day the verdict came through and [Kourtney, Kim and Khloé] came in and they said, 'I told you he didn't do it,'" the Olympian recalled in 2009 during an appearance on Dr. Phil. "We sat down and I said, 'Look, just because he got a not guilty verdict doesn't mean he didn't do it, and I just don't want to hear his name anymore.' And I had a lot of conversations with Robert to try to make sure it didn't tear the family apart."

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They Didn't Know What to Think

Khloé was only 9 years old when O.J. was arrested and later admitted that she didn't fully understand what was happening. "O.J. was always our Uncle O.J., Nicole was my Auntie Nicole," she told E! True Hollywood Story in 2009. "You don't really know what to believe or how to perceive it. ... It's sad to see your parents go through so much pain for trying to be true friends."

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Kris Believed Nicole

Kris, for her part, always remained on the side of her friend Nicole, who had shared details of her turbulent relationship with O.J. "Nicole had been beaten up by O.J. and she had been keeping this physical proof in the form of photographs and, it would turn out, other evidence, in which she had documented 17 years of abuse," Kris wrote in her 2011 memoir, Kris Jenner ... and All Things Kardashian. "Nicole really wanted someone close to her to know what was going on, so that somebody — namely me — could be a witness."

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Team Dad

Though Kim was torn between her parents' views on the trial, she later said she sided with her father because she trusted him so much. "I definitely took my dad's side," she told Rolling Stone in July 2015. "We just always thought my dad was the smartest person in the world, and he really believed in his friend."

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They Don't Remember Much

According to Khloé, Robert did his best to keep his younger children out of the spotlight while the trial was happening. "Kourtney and Kim would go to court with my dad all the time. They were much more involved," she told Access Hollywood in January 2016. "We were kids. I think I was 8 or something, so we're all sheltered from that. For us, we're just playing and hanging out. So, I don't remember it as vividly as Kourtney and Kim do."

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The Reunion

Recalling a time when she ran into O.J. around 2007, Kim told Jonathan Cheban that she, Kourtney and Khloé had an "emotional" reunion with their parents' former friend. "We all, I think, all started crying," she recalled in September 2019.

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Kris vs. Robert

"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 told David Letterman in October 2020, adding that the situation "tore my family apart" at the time. "And then we'd go to my dad's house and it was a whole other situation there."

In the same interview, she said she never commented on the case because she still cared for O.J. and Nicole's kids, Sydney and Justin. “I just respect his children, so if I were to say something that would hurt someone’s feelings publicly — unless they’re coming for me and I have to defend myself or a family member — then I’m aware,” she explained. 

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'A Stab in the Dark'

Kim has never publicly stated whether she believes O.J. committed a crime, but during her October 2021 hosting gig on Saturday Night Live, she came under fire for a joke about the former athlete in her monologue. "It’s because of [my father] that I met my first Black person. Want to take a stab in the dark at who it was?” she quipped during the episode. “I know it’s sort of weird to remember the first Black person you met, but O.J. does leave a mark or several, or none at all. I still don’t know.”

After the show, Nicole's sister, Tanya Brown, told TMZ she thought the joke was in "poor taste."

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Nicole Confided in the Jenners

In November 2021, Caitlyn claimed that Nicole once told Kris she was afraid O.J. would murder her. “It was an extraordinarily difficult time,” the I Am Cait alum author said during an episode of Big Brother VIP. “Nicole was Kris’s best friend, had been for a long time. I was at Nicole’s house two days before the murder. ... 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 because I’m O.J. Simpson.' Then, Nicole relayed that onto Kris at one point and unfortunately, she was right.”