As the three sisters of Nicole Brown Simpson marked the 30-year anniversary of her killing, they were dealt another jolt in April when they learned O.J. Simpson had died.
Simpson was acquitted of murder charges in his ex-wife's death in a 1995 trial that has reverberated for decades. Her sisters — Denise, Dominique and Tanya Brown — spoke to Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb on TODAY on May 29 about hearing the news that Simpson had died at 76 on April 11 from cancer.
"It was very overwhelming," Dominique said. "It was very complicated, very confusing, and at the same time so, so sad. I was really emotional. We didn't really know if it was true when we heard the news, and then we turn on the TV and it was confirmed that he had actually passed away."
"I think the whole world knew how I felt about him," Denise said. "On that day, I was happy. When I heard the news, I was like, 'Oh my God, finally.'"
However, there was sadness when thinking about the two children O.J. and Nicole had together. Sydney Simpson, 38, and Justin Simpson, 35, are now without both parents.
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"But then, it kind of sunk in, 'Wait a minute, there's Sydney and Justin,'" Denise said. "I was like, 'Wow, OK. I'm happy for me, I don't have to look over my shoulder any more.
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"I wasn't afraid of him. He was just always there, his presence, they were always talking about him in the media, things were always going on, but then it was that sadness for the kids because now they don't have a mom or a dad. So yeah, it was hard. It was tough."
Nicole Brown Simpson was fatally stabbed on June 12, 1994, alongside her friend Ronald Goldman outside her home in Brentwood, Los Angeles. She was 35.
Now, 30 years after the gruesome killing and shocking “trial of the century” that followed, Nicole's three sisters are ensuring her voice is heard again and that both her life and death are better understood through their memories.
Denise, Dominique and Tanya Brown are among those who share stories about the late mother of two in “The Life & Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson,” the Lifetime docuseries that airs June 1 and 2 at 8 p.m. ET.
"I really want people to get to know who Nicole was," Denise said on TODAY. "You want to be able to humanize her, you want to be able to hear her voice, hear her story."
The sisters were asked if they feel like they ever received justice for Nicole's death even though O.J. was acquitted. He later served prison time for a separate crime and became one of America's most notorious figures.
"I’m going to talk like how my mom would say this," Tanya said. "She’s like, 'Things just happen the way they were supposed to happen.' It panned out the way it was supposed to."
"I just think it happened the way it happened, and you can’t change that," Denise said. "Now what we want to do is we want to bring her back in this as the wonderful human being that she was."
Before tuning in to the four-part series, get to know Nicole’s sisters better here.
Denise Brown
The eldest sister in the family, Denise Brown, 66, was close to Nicole, who was two years her junior. Both women started their careers as fashion models, and they shared an undeniable resemblance, too.
“She was my best friend,” the big sister says in the official trailer for the docuseries. “And the one thing I could not protect her from was the monster she was married to.”
Although Simpson was acquitted of the murders in 1995, he was later found liable for both deaths in civil court. But there was no dispute over his history of domestic violence.
After Nicole’s death, Denise became a crusader against domestic violence. According to her bio on AAE Speakers, she visited universities, prisons, churches and more to speak about the topic and its often-deadly outcomes. She also started the now-defunct Nicole Brown Foundation, which benefited battered women.
In 1995, Denise took her fight to Capitol Hill, urging senators to fully fund the Violence Against Women Act.
“It is the women whose deaths do not make it on the evening news who are counting on this Congress to do what is right,” she said, according to United Press International.
Today, Denise remains an active public speaker on the topic.
“I think (Nicole) did so much good in her death that she may not have been able to do with her life,” Denise said on “Dateline” in 2004, sharing how Nicole has inspired her work and that of others. “I think that she has done so much good for so many people.”
Dominique Brown
Dominique Brown was 29 years old when Nicole died. Since then, she has lived a more private life than her sisters have, but in the Lifetime docuseries, she hopes to join her siblings in reminding the world about the family member they lost so long ago.
“It’s been 30 years,” she says in a voice-over in the trailer. “Maybe it’s time to rekindle the flame of Nicole.”
Unlike her sisters, who both believe that Simpson took Nicole’s life, Dominique has never shared her thoughts publicly.
“Because of the children, I’m not going to answer,” she told People this month, referencing her niece and nephew — Nicole’s daughter, Sydney Simpson, 38, and son, Justin Simpson, 35.
In 2022, Dominique experienced another tragic loss. Her only child, Aaron Michael Brown, died at the age of 33. His obituary described him as “the light of his mother’s life.”
Tanya Brown
Like Denise, Tanya Brown, 54, channeled the experience of losing Nicole into her life’s work, lending her voice to the fight against domestic violence as a public speaker and serving as a life coach for those in need of healing in the wake of their own trauma.
On her website, she detailed how she developed “unhealthy coping mechanisms” after the 1995 murder trial, explaining that it led her to attempt suicide in 2004.
“I was unaware of mental illness,” she wrote. “I didn’t deal with stress, grief, and codependence in healthy ways.”
After recovering, she learned to help herself and others. In 2014, she published “Finding Peace Amid the Chaos: My Escape From Depression and Suicide,” followed by “The Seven Characters of Abuse: Where It Starts and Where It Can End” in 2015.
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
