O.J. Simpson. Isaac Brekken-Pool/Getty Images
O.J. Simpson has been cremated, his lawyer Malcom LaVergne confirmed to The Associated Press.
Simpson was cremated on Wednesday, April 17, per LaVergne, at Palm Mortuary in Las Vegas. While noting that he was present, he did not give further details of who else was there.
News broke earlier this month that Simpson died at the age of 76 after a battle with cancer. “On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer. He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren,” the Simpson family shared in a statement via X. “During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace.”
Ahead of Simpson’s cremation, LaVergne opened up about the former NFL player’s final days, which Simpson spent at home while saying goodbye to his loved ones.
O.J. Simpson originally rose to fame as a football standout. After winning the 1968 Heisman Trophy at the University of Southern California, he was selected by the Buffalo Bills as the No. 1 overall pick in the 1969 draft. Simpson retired from the NFL in 1979 after playing 11 seasons, pivoting his career to take […]
“The only thing I heard him [say] at the end, he just wanted a couple more years,” LaVergne, who’s also the executor of Simpson’s estate, exclusively told Us Weekly on Tuesday, April 16. “He wanted to see his oldest grandchild go to school. That would’ve been icing on the cake for him. But he never got there. But he had everything else. The thing that made O.J. the happiest at the end was that he was a grandfather and he got to see, spend time and play with his grandkids.”
It was previously reported in February that Simpson was undergoing treatment for prostate cancer, but he never publicly confirmed his diagnosis. After rumors swirled that Simpson was in hospice, he took to social media to shut down the speculation.
“Hospice? Hospice?! You talkin’ about hospice?” Simpson said in a video posted via X in February. “No, I’m not in any hospice. I don’t know who put that out there.”
Despite rising to stardom as an NFL player, Simpson’s name became rooted in infamy when his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman were found stabbed to death outside of her Los Angeles home in 1994.
The late O.J. Simpson was father of five children, whom he shared with his two former spouses. The former athlete tied the knot with his first wife, Marguerite Whitley, in 1967. Prior to their 1979 split, the pair welcomed three kids together: Arnelle, Jason and Aaren. Simpson went on to wed Nicole Brown Simpson in […]
Simpson was arrested and subsequently charged with the murders of which he was acquitted. He was later found liable for the wrongful death of and battery against Goldman in a civil suit filed by Goldman’s family and ordered to pay $33.5 million to the victims’ families.
Simpson’s legal woes continued when he was found guilty of kidnapping and armed robbery in 2007 in Las Vegas. He served nine years in a Nevada prison before being granted an early release in 2017.
