Lifetime's "The Life and Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson," released ahead of the 30th anniversary of Brown Simpson's death, gives an insight into the late mom-of-two's troubled marriage to the NFL star in her own words via excerpts of the diary she kept.
On June 12, 1994, Brown Simpson was found dead at her home in Brentwood, California, alongside her friend, Ronald Goldman. Simpson, whom she had divorced two years prior, was accused and later acquitted of the crime in a highly publicized trial the following year. In a civil lawsuit in 1997, he was found liable for both deaths.
The first handwritten diary entry shown in the documentary alleges Simpson began physically attacking Brown Simpson a year into their relationship, which started in 1977 when Simpson was still married to his first wife and Brown Simpson was just 18.
"I found an earring in my apt bed on Bedford," she wrote. "I accused OJ of sleeping with someone named Teri. He threw a fit, chased me, threw me into walls, bruised me."
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In another entry a few years later, Brown Simpson claimed a similar incident happened at their beach house in Laguna Beach.
"Hit me, threw me up against the walls. Threw my camera, it broke the paneling — moldings off the doors to master bdrm and garage door," Brown Simpson wrote.
The couple welcomed two children: a daughter named Sydney in 1985, the same year they married, and a son named Justin in 1988. As Brown Simpson's sister Denise Brown recalled, the football pro and Hollywood actor "was not nice to her when she was pregnant."
An entry in Brown Simpson's diary during her first pregnancy showed her seemingly quoting her husband, who told her, "You're a fat pig" and "I want you out of my house."
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In another entry, Brown Simpson wrote about being "scared" that her spouse was going to throw her out of a window during a Christmas trip to Hawai'i in 1998.
The docuseries also features candid interviews with Brown Simpson's sisters, Denise, Dominique, and Tanya Brown, as well as close friends such as Kris Jenner and Faye Resnick, the latter of whom spoke on camera about how OJ Simpson was "spying on" his ex-wife in the months before her death.
As the children's aunt, Denise, explained, "all hell broke loose" after a same-sex couple had taken an interest in five-month-old Justin.
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"There was a gay couple that was sitting at the table and they just thought Justin was beautiful," Denise said. "One of the guys, he kissed Justin on the forehead."
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The documentary also showed archival footage of Simpson's close friend and fellow NFL star, Marcus Alle, speaking about the fight in his 1996 deposition.
"After Nicole had let the man hold the baby, she took the baby back, OJ supposedly had said, 'Why did you have that gay guy hold my baby,' or something like that and she says, 'Why are you concerned about him being gay? Your father is gay.' And OJ got very upset with her."
Writing in her diary, Brown Simpson described what she said happened afterward when they returned to their hotel: "Gay man kissed Justin. OJ threw me up against walls in our hotel and on the floor. Put bruises on my arms and back. The window scared me — thought he'd throw me out."
Denise added that the following day, she was confused to see her sister wearing a long-sleeved shirt on the beach. Later that she understood why.
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"I knew he was pissed off, but I didn't know anything else that happened behind closed doors," she said. "I read in her diary afterwards that he had her up against the wall, over the balcony, doing the usual, hurting her."
Just a week later, on New Year's Eve, Brown Simpson wrote that she was beaten by her husband again.
"Chasing me through the house," she wrote. "Beat me on bed. Kept hitting me until police came."
Per the documentary, Brown Simpson called the police multiple times to report her husband's abuse. However, Simpson was only arrested once — for the incident of domestic abuse chronicled in the Brown Simpson's New Year's Eve diary entry that left her beaten so severely that she required hospital treatment.
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Simpson — who died of metastatic prostate cancer on April 10 at the age of 76 — pleaded no contest to the spousal battery charges and swerved serving jail time in favor of undergoing an intensive yearlong treatment program.
Brown Simpson continued to seek help over the next few years, even after the couple divorced. Just five days before she was killed, she called a domestic violence helpline, identifying herself by just her first name, and spoke of her famous ex-husband's violent tendencies.
Since her death, Brown Simpson's sisters have dedicated themselves to advocating for domestic violence victims and educating the public on signs of abuse.
"The Life and Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson" will air on June 1 and 2 at 5 p.m PT/8p.m. ET on Lifetime.
