The Kardashians' Bizarre Involvements With O.J.'s Trial
The Kardashian family name rose to prominence during the O.J. Simpson murder trial when Robert Kardashian, the then-family patriarch, signed on to the troubled football star's "Dream Team." Here are the strangest ties the Kardashian klan had to the trial. These would've made for much better TV than anything we've seen on Keeping Up With the Kardashians yet.
O.J. tried to kill himself in Kim's bedroom
Kris Jenner confirmed what American Crime Story: The People Vs. O.J. Simpson claimed: that Simpson threatened to commit suicide in Kim Kardashian's bedroom. Kim was 13 at the time and thankfully wasn't home at the time of the incident. Robert Kardashian told Barbara Walters that when it happened, he prayed with Simpson. "As I walked in the room...I saw wrapped in a towel, a gun. I didn't know what to make of it...I knelt on the ground, and I took his hands, and said, 'O.J., let's pray.'" Robert says that after praying with Simpson, Simpson told him, "I'm going to kill myself." Robert responded, "You can't kill yourself, this is my daughter's room. She can't sleep in this bed." Kris Jenner said she didn't find out about the incident until later on, but admitted that it did happen.
Robert Kardashian hadn't practiced law for 15 years prior to O.J.'s case
Robert Kardashian ditched his legal career in favor of business ventures, some of which he partnered with Simpson on. (They opened a frozen yogurt parlor called Juice in Westwood Village, California, and partnered on an ultimately unsuccessful venture called Concert Cinema that screened music videos in theaters.) Before he joined the "Dream Team," he hadn't practiced law in 15 years and hadn't set foot in a courtroom in two decades. What's more, in Kardashian's May 1996 court deposition, he admits that he has virtually no experience in criminal law.
O.J. called Kris Jenner from jail
In an interview with Good Morning America, Kris Jenner revealed that Simpson reached out to her from jail. "[Simpson told me] that he didn't do it," Jenner said. "I asked a lot of questions...I listened to him, and he listened to me." When asked if she believed him, Jenner replied, "It was so early on, and there was a fondness there, we'd been friends for a very long time."
Robert was accused of hiding evidence
CNN reports that the prosecution in the Simpson trial suspected Kardashian of hiding evidence. Kardashian was spotted toting Simpson's Louis Vuitton garment bag, which the state speculated may have contained Simpson's bloody clothes and/or the murder weapon. Kardashian denied the allegations and insisted that he tried to give the bag to the police. After the trial, he told CNN, "They never sought to [retrieve the bag], in fact when we turned it in to the court nine months later, they still never did any tests to see if there was blood. I don't believe they really wanted to know the answer. I think it was better to leave speculation and to let the public think there was something sinister about these bags."
Kris Jenner was allegedly an O.J. groupie
Simpson's former agent claims that Kris Jenner only involved herself with the acquitted former football star for the sake of her own celebrity. Mike Gilbert griped to The Daily Mirror, "How many days did she go to the trial? She was barely at the trial. She was a groupie. She only went when there was celebrity testimony." He added, "Kris went when O.J. tried on the gloves. It was a happening and people wanted to be there." It worked: Jenner is now a celebrity in her own right, in part because of her and her ex's association with the trial.
Robert only acted as Simpson's lawyer when it was convenient
Kardashian admits that his role on the Dream Team was more "shoulder to cry on" than "ferocious defender." Kardashian told the Los Angeles Times, "I know O.J. better than anyone on the legal team. There are so many things I know about his personality. My job is really strategy and liaison between the lawyers and O.J."
The trial caused a family feud
Kris Jenner was best friends with Nicole Brown Simpson. Though she and Kardashian had been divorced at the time of the trial (she was already remarried to Bruce Jenner), the former couple had remained friends. That friendship was severely tested when Kardashian defended Simpson. Kim Kardashian told Dr. Phil in 2009, "We felt really in the middle of this trial. We didn't know which parent to side with...We thought our mom was mad at us for sitting with our dad." For his part, Bruce Jenner thought Simpson was guilty. "It was something that really did tear us apart," he said. "Just because he got a not guilty verdict doesn't mean he didn't do it. And I just don't want to hear his name anymore."