Did Kris Jenner Talk to O.J. Simpson After Nicole Brown Simpson's Death?
The momager recalls the events around the O.J. Simpson murder trial with Ellen DeGeneres.
Week after week, viewers are reliving the O.J. Simpson trial on FX's American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson. The series not only takes a closer look at the main players in the story, including the former football star and his family, but the folks who were affected by the highly-publicized trial as well. And that includes Kris Jenner, whose ex-husband, Robert Kardashian, was a member of the legal "dream team" that defended O.J. The Kardashian and the Simpson families were longtime friends, and Kris and the late Nicole Brown Simpson were especially close. We've seen Kris appear on screen a few times in American Crime Story (played by Selma Blair) but now the real life matriarch is opening up about her experience during the trial of the century.
Despite having already divorced Robert, Kris and O.J. were still friendly and he called her after Nicole's death. "He called me a few times. And, you know, wanted to talk and explain how he felt," the Keeping Up With the Kardashians momager told Ellen DeGeneres on her talk show on Tuesday. "It was painfully [awkward]; every single day it was something different. And it was very difficult because my ex-husband 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. 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."
During the candid discussion, Kris also recalled the moment she found out about Nicole's murder. "Her mom called me. I had been coming back from taking the kids to school and I was supposed to meet Nicole," she said. "My assistant said, 'Judy's on the phone' and I said, 'Tell her I'll call her right back,' and she talked to Judy for a second and she said, 'You really need to take the call.'"
Prior to Nicole's death, Kris noted that she didn't realize the extent of the abuse she had allegedly been suffering from from O.J. "Me and some of her other close friends all were really surprised and shocked by that because we felt like we really failed her as a friend," Kris said. "You know, you go through this and you discover things about somebody and it was horrible. She and I were supposed to have lunch the next day, the day after she was murdered. She said she wanted to show me some things and talk about what was in her safe. And so now unfortunately it all makes sense that that's probably what she wanted to reveal to me that next day, which broke my heart because I will always feel horrible that I didn't pay enough attention."
UPDATE 7/20/17: O.J. was granted parole on July 20,2017 fter spending nine years in prison in Nevada in connection with a 2007 crime during which he robbed two sports memorabilia dealers at a Las Vegas hotel at gunpoint.
The O.J. Simpson trial has returned to the zeitgeist, having been discussed at length this season on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Below, RHOBH rookie Kathryn Edwards, whose ex-husband Marcus Allen was friends with O.J., opens up about the former football star.
