Nicole Brown Simpson’s sisters, Dominique, Denise, and Tanya Brown, have provided a rare update on the lives of Nicole’s children with O.J. Simpson, Sydney and Justin Simpson. Speaking to “Entertainment Tonight,” the sisters emphasized the importance of respecting the privacy of their niece and nephew, who have largely stayed out of the public eye since their mother’s tragic death and their father’s infamous trial.
“They have their own families,” said Dominique, 59, referring to Sydney, 38, and Justin, 35. “They live normal lives. They want to be left alone, and they have children of their own.”
Denise, 66, echoed this sentiment, pleading with the public to “please leave them alone.” She added, “They just want to live normal lives and happy lives. They don’t have both parents. It’s hard for them. It’s sad. I don’t know if it’s hard, but it’s sad for them. And I think their privacy is important to them.”
Tanya, 54, admitted that she is “not really in touch” with her niece and nephew. She also expressed “mixed feelings” about Sydney and Justin potentially watching Lifetime’s documentary, “The Life and Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson,” which airs this weekend.
“It’s so good, so many great stories about Mom,” Tanya explained. “But then they’re going to hear what a horrible dad he was, what a horrible husband, a horrible human being. I don’t know if they have a good perception of him or a poor one. But I think it would kind of hurt me if they had such a great relationship with Dad and then all of a sudden they see this and see a totally different person.”
The Brown sisters have been protective of Sydney and Justin since the brutal murder of their mother in June 1994 and the subsequent trial of their father, O.J. Simpson. The siblings were just 8 and 5 years old at the time of Nicole’s death. The family has made concerted efforts to shield them from the media circus that followed.
Dominique shared that their community played a significant role in creating a protective bubble around the children. “Our neighborhood Safeway, the supermarket, didn’t put up the magazines,” she said. “They removed the gossip magazines from the shelves. That small effort afforded the children, for a brief moment, some sense of normalcy.”
Despite these efforts, the family couldn’t completely escape the relentless media attention. Film crews surrounded their home, and TV news helicopters hovered above. To combat this, the family focused on spending quality time together. “We would eat together, we would do family things,” Dominique said. “We did games. We used to play kick the can in the street. I mean, we used to do things like that.”
Denise added that they took additional measures to protect the children from the constant news updates. “Our televisions were all turned to VCRs except my father’s,” she said. “He wanted to see what was going on the news, but all the other televisions were all VCR so the kids didn’t see any of it.”
As adults, Sydney and Justin have chosen to live private lives. They were last known to be residing in Florida as of 2016. The Brown sisters hope that the public will respect their wishes for privacy.
In addition to Sydney and Justin, O.J. Simpson had three other children with his first wife, Marguerite L. Whitley: Arnelle, 55, Jason, 54, and Aaren, who tragically died in a drowning accident before her second birthday in 1979.
O.J. Simpson, who was found not guilty of murdering Nicole but later held civilly liable, passed away at age 76 in April after battling prostate cancer. TMZ reported that his children visited him on his deathbed and signed NDAs before doing so.
The Brown sisters are set to look back at their sister’s life in the Lifetime documentary, “The Life and Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson,” which premieres Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, with part two airing the following day.
