Denise Brown, whose sister Nicole Brown Simpson was murdered in 1994, has devoted her life to ending domestic violence. In a new book, For My Sister Nicole, she recounts the trauma she witnessed in her sister's marriage to OJ Simpson and offers advice for victims and their loved ones.
A Sister's Last Night
The last evening Denise spent with Nicole was at a restaurant for a family celebration. Nicole suddenly pointed out her ex-husband, former football star OJ Simpson, driving by. "She said, 'He's constantly following me,'" Denise recalls.
The next morning, 13 June 1994, Denise was at her parents' home in Orange County, California, when the phone rang shortly after 6am. "I heard my mom scream a scream that I had never heard from a human being," she says. A detective from the Los Angeles police department explained that Nicole, 35, and her friend Ron Goldman had been found dead, stabbed outside her house.
Recognising the Cycle of Abuse
Denise admits she knew little about domestic violence at the time, believing it only affected women in poverty. The full scale of the abuse became clear after Nicole's death, when the family found her journals detailing beatings and controlling behaviour. "I did not know that this was something that happens as a cycle," she says.
She describes an incident where Simpson, angered by a comment, grabbed Nicole by the throat and threw her out of the house, bloodied. Despite this, Nicole returned the next morning, saying it was just too much drinking. "I told her so many times to leave him," Denise says.
Life After the Trial
Simpson was acquitted of the murders in a criminal trial but found liable in a civil case. Denise says she coped with the verdict poorly, but notes, "Not guilty does not mean you're innocent."
Now 69, Denise continues to campaign, noting that shelters "are on the verge of closing" due to lack of government funding. She hopes her book will educate others and save lives. "I'm hoping that my sister is proud of me," she says. For My Sister Nicole is published in the US on 6 October.
