Nicole Brown Simpson’s Sisters Share Reaction to O.J. Simpson’s Death

Nicole Brown Simpson’s sisters are speaking out, 30 years after her brutal murder.

In a new “Good Morning America” interview with Diane Sawyer, Tanya, 54, Dominique, 59, and Denise, 66, open up about losing Nicole, domestic violence and their reaction to O.J. Simpson’s recent death.

Diane asks them how they’ve lived with “30 years of rage and heartbreak.”

Tanya soberly answers, “A lot of therapy. It was rough. Unresolved grief. Everything hit me hard 10 years later."

Dominique reflects, "Sometimes I would think, 'Gosh, I am just staggeringly sad today.’ And I would realize that it was the day she was murdered, or it was her birthday or something, or some memory would come up."

Denise adds, "The pain doesn't go away, it doesn't subside, doesn't get easier. But you do the best you can, and you move on. And it's one step forward."

Nicole is the subject of the upcoming documentary series “The Life & Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson,” airing June 1 and 2 on Lifetime, which will give viewers an inside look at who she was.

Denise tells Diane, “It is the voice of Nicole we wanted to hear, because so many people said, ‘We don’t even know what her voice sounds like. Who is Nicole?’ So, I hope they get a true sense of who Nicole is in this documentary.”

Looking back at Nicole’s relationship with her ex-husband O.J., the sisters speak about the alleged domestic violence in the relationship.

Nicole met O.J. in 1977 when she was just 18 and working as a waitress. At the time he was 30 and a high-profile celebrity. They wed in 1985 and had two children together, Sydney and Justin, before divorcing in 1992.

Denise recalls at one point finding a Polaroid of Nicole looking bruised and beaten in a bathroom drawer. “I said, ‘Oh, my God, Nic, look at that black eye!’ and she said, ‘No, no, no, it was the makeup artist at the studio.’ Because [O.J.] was shooting films at the time. I said, ‘Oh, my God, it looks so real,’ and I threw it right back in the drawer. I didn’t know it was a real black eye. I had no idea.”

Dominique discovered Nicole’s chilling diaries, sharing, “I found her will, her diaries, just stacked in a box underneath the kitchen cabinet with the kids’ artwork and a bunch of other stuff… It wasn’t next to her bed where she might write, where he might look. It wasn’t under her mattress.”

In a voice-over, Diane then reads some of those entries, including one about an attack from when they first met: “He threw a fit, chased me, grabbed me, threw me into walls.” Another entry talks of a “possible skull fracture” that she told doctors was from a bicycle accident.

There is verbal abuse, too, as Nicole writes that O.J. called her “disgusting” and a “fat pig” while she was pregnant.

Nicole did call the police multiple times and in 1989 Simpson was arrested and later convicted of spousal abuse.

Denise tells Diane that when Nicole confided in her about the violence, she said the wrong thing.

She asked Nicole, “Why don’t you just get out of this relationship, why don’t you just leave him?” adding, “I asked her all the whys that you don’t ask,” saying the better option is, “You be supportive and you just let them do the talking.”

On June 12, 1994, Nicole and friend Ron Goldman were found brutally murdered outside her Brentwood home. O.J. was arrested for the murders, but was acquitted of all criminal charges. He died in April 2024 following a battle with cancer.

Diane asks the women if O.J.’s death had “a profound change on you immediately?”

Dominique says, “It is very confusing, it is very complicated, but I have a relationship with the kids that means everything to me, and I was very, very sad for them.”

Denise nods, adding, “For them.”

Tune in to “GMA” on Wednesday for more of Diane’s interview with the Brown sisters.