While currently facing the terrors of the Australian jungle on I'm a Celebrity, comedian Ruby Wax has revealed she once confronted a different kind of fear during her celebrated interviewing career. The 72-year-old presenter was left genuinely rattled by former NFL star OJ Simpson, who subjected her to a series of deeply unsettling pranks.
The Infamous Encounter
In the 1990s, Wax hosted her own programme, Ruby Wax Meets, where she interviewed some of the world's most controversial figures, including Madonna, Donald Trump, and OJ Simpson. It was her 1998 meeting with Simpson, however, that produced some of the most shocking moments. This interview took place after Simpson's 1994 acquittal for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman.
Reflecting on the encounter in the 2021 BBC show When Ruby Wax Met, Wax described Simpson as "the most complicated character on earth." She admitted she had never watched the footage back until that point, wanting to analyse both her own psychology and that of her subjects.
A Bizarre and Threatening Prank
One particularly disturbing incident occurred as the interview was being set up. Wax explained the format involved her opening a door to reveal her guest. "But when he was out there," she recalled, "all the trays were out there and he was looking for a knife to fool me when the door was opened. But there was no knife so he grabbed a banana."
The clip, which resurfaced after Simpson's death in April 2024, shows the former athlete holding the banana and making stabbing motions towards Wax while emitting high-pitched screeches. The act was a clear mimicry of the infamous shower murder scene from Alfred Hitchcock's horror classic, Psycho. Wax confessed the bizarre gesture "genuinely surprised" her.
The April Fool's Day Confession
The unsettling behaviour did not end there. Wax revealed that Simpson later called her in London on April Fool's Day. "OJ called me up on April Fool's Day in London and said 'I killed her' and then went 'April Fool's'," she recounted. This call came after he had already been acquitted of the murders.
During the original interview, Wax employed her famously direct style, staring at Simpson and asking him outright: "Did you do it?" Looking directly into the camera, he smiled and replied, "No I didn't, nope. Did not do it." Despite his denial, Wax believed she could elicit a confession. "I thought I could bust him," she explained. "[I thought] he'd say on air 'Yes he did it', and I'd get him in jail. So I was being public defender." She described the entire experience as a "psychological minefield."
Although OJ Simpson was never criminally convicted for the murders, a civil jury in February 1997 found him liable for the wrongful deaths of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. The jury awarded $8.5 million to the Goldman estate and $25 million to Brown's estate. Simpson later served nine years in prison for a 2008 armed robbery and kidnapping incident in Las Vegas.
