OJ Simpson’s cause of death confirmed
O.J. Simpson’s cause of death has officially been confirmed, just weeks after the former football star’s death at the age of 76.
Simpson — who had long been just as famous (if not more so) for his double-murder trial as his acclaimed athletic career — died of metastatic prostate cancer on April 10, his attorney and executor of his estate told TMZ, citing Simpson’s death certificate.
Simpson’s death followed several months spent in hospice care, according to the outlet, and came nearly a year after he announced last May he had recently “caught cancer.”
Despite suggesting at the time he was out of the woods, his appearance earlier this year painted a different picture.
Back in January, the former Buffalo Bills running back was spotted using a cane, according to images published by The Sun. By the following month, he’d stopped his frequent posting on social media, sharing his final video in the lead-up to the Super Bowl.
Attorney Malcolm LaVergne recently countered the claims that Simpson — the father to two adult daughters and two adult sons — had died“surrounded by his children and grandchildren,” as the family’s statement announcing his death said. Instead, LaVergne said Simpson only had one person with him, though he didn’t identify the “close family member.”
In 1995, Simpson was acquitted in the 1994 fatal stabbings of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. Simpson was later found liable for their wrongful deaths in civil court, and ordered to pay $33.5 million in damages to the families of both victims.
Simpson never made good on those payments and died owing $114 million to the family of Ron Goldman, their attorney, David Cook, told People, pointing to the interest that accrued on the unpaid cash — save for the $133,000 he reportedly forked over in 1997.
“He died without penance,” Cook said. “He did not want to give a dime, a nickel to (Ron’s father) Fred, never, anything, never.”
Simpson did eventually serve time behind bars, having been found guilty in 2008 in a botched armed robbery of a Las Vegas hotel and casino. Although he was sentenced to up to 33 years, Simpson was granted parole and walked free in October 2017 at age 70.
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