ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock PhotoO.J. Simpson died of metastatic prostate cancer in April 2024.Some people knew him as an athlete. Others knew him as an actor. Today, many remember him as a man accused of murder. No matter how you looked at him, however, its clear that O.J. Simpsons death left behind a complicated legacy. Throughout his life, Simpson wore many hats. Once at the height of fame and fortune, he later fell into severe debt. When O.J. Simpson died in 2024, he reportedly owed more than $100 million.To try and earn a living, the disgraced former star resorted to posting on TikTok and publishing the book If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer, a hypothetical memoir about the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, from her attackers perspective.Then, Simpson was diagnosed with prostate cancer. On April 10, 2024, it took his life and what a tumultuous life it had been. Early Years Growing Up In San FranciscoOrenthal James Simpson was born on July 9, 1947, in San Francisco, and he had a difficult upbringing. According to an ESPN feature on the former football star, he contracted rickets at the age of two, which left him bow-legged and pigeon-toed. He was raised by a single mother in the housing projects of Potrero Hill, and he found himself in trouble frequently from a young age.He joined his first gang when he was just 13, and he was arrested three times as a teenager. At 15, a fight landed him in a juvenile correctional facility. On top of that, his grades were poor. But young O.J. did have one thing going for him: He was an excellent football player. While he didnt receive any scholarship offers in high school, he went on to break records at the City College of San Francisco. At that point, he was heavily recruited, and he decided to play for the University of Southern California in 1967. There, he blossomed into one of the greatest collegiate players in history. Don Cormier, Los Angeles Times/Wikimedia CommonsBefore O.J. Simpsons death, he was a football legend and the subject of one of the biggest controversies of the 1990s.In his first season, he propelled the Trojans to a national championship. The following year, he ran for 1,709 yards and made 22 touchdowns, winning the 1968 Heisman Trophy. Charismatic and photogenic, Simpson became a national celebrity. Advertisers courted him; sportswriters hailed him as the future of professional football. Simpson was not only the greatest player I ever had he was the greatest player anyone ever had, said USC coach John McKay.Simpson also made sure to keep a clean-cut public image, a particularly important move that endeared him to people across racial lines at a time when tensions were still high. And unlike his athletic contemporaries like Muhammad Ali, Simpson largely avoided political activism, which helped him gain even more mainstream endorsements. It was only a matter of time before he went pro. Professional Football Career And Hollywood Film RolesBy 1969, Simpson was one of the most sought-after up-and-comers in the NFL. In the draft that year, the Buffalo Bills selected him as the first overall pick. Almost immediately, he proved that their bet had paid off. It was in 1973, however, that he truly found his stride.Marsha Traeger, Los Angeles Times/Wikimedia CommonsO.J. Simpson carrying the Olympic Torch in 1984.That year, Simpson won the AP Most Valuable Player award and became the first player to rush for at least 2,000 yards in a single season. The Juice had secured himself permanent status as a football legend. Even after O.J. Simpsons death and the trials that marked his later life, hes remembered for his accomplishments on the field.For five straight seasons, he rushed for over 1,000 yards, led the league in rushing four times, and was selected for six Pro Bowls. He was traded to the San Francisco 49ers in 1978 and retired two years later. In 1985, he entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame. By then, however, Simpson was more than just an athlete he was one of the most recognizable celebrities in America. Leveraging his fame and success, Simpson pivoted into entertainment though, as ESPN noted, no one ever mentioned him in the same breath with [Laurence] Olivier. Simpson became a commentator for Monday Night Football, appeared in various television roles, and starred in films such as The Towering Inferno (1974) and the cult classic Naked Gun series in the 1980s. Public DomainO.J. Simpson at a Thanksgiving Day football game in 1990.Perhaps more famously, he was the face of Hertz rental cars, sprinting through airports in a series of beloved commercials. By the tail end of the 1980s, Simpson had done what few others managed to do. He had reached the highest acclaim in his chosen sport and turned that into a successful Hollywood career, all while keeping a stellar public image. He was largely uncontroversial on the surface, but behind the scenes, his personal life was crumbling. Soon enough, his name would be synonymous with a controversy that not even O.J. Simpsons death could erase.Domestic Troubles And Allegations Of AbuseBack in June 1977, Simpson met an 18-year-old waitress named Nicole Brown, and the two began flirting and talking constantly. At the time, Simpson was in the middle of a separation from his first wife, Marguerite Whitley. After the divorce was finalized in 1979, things between Simpson and Brown started to get more serious.I think everyone saw us as the perfect couple, including Nicole, but as the months turned into years she began to drop not-so-subtle hints about getting married, Simpson recalled in If I Did It, which was written with the help of ghostwriter Pablo Fenjves and based on a series of conversations the two had. I kept trying to put her off, of course, because Id failed at marriage once, and because Id seen plenty of other couples fail, but Nicole kept pushing.Ralph Dominguez/MediaPunch Inc / Alamy Stock PhotoO.J. Simpson and his second wife, Nicole Brown Simpson.According to Simpson, this led to a series of arguments between the two and despite getting married in 1985, things only seemed to continuously escalate. By 1989, police had been called to the couples home multiple times, and that year, Simpson pleaded no contest to spousal abuse. Three years later, their marriage ended in divorce. Simpson claimed that Brown often got physical with him, as well, especially if they were drinking, and that many of her allegations of physical and emotional abuse existed only in Nicoles own mind. Alan Light/Wikimedia CommonsO.J. Simpson holding his daughter with Nicole Brown, Sydney, as a fan asks for a photograph. 1986.Did I physically drag Nicole out of the bedroom and push her out into the hallway? Yes, Simpson recalled. Did I beat her? No. I never once raised my hand to her never once and if Nicole were alive today shed tell you the same thing.After the divorce, Brown confided in friends that she feared for her safety. The media, meanwhile, turned on O.J. Simpson, as the severity of the allegations was difficult to ignore. No one could have imagined what happened two years later, though.The Double Murder Of Nicole Brown And Ron GoldmanOn June 12, 1994, Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman were found brutally murdered outside her condominium in Brentwood. Almost immediately, suspicion fell on O.J. Simpson. Four days later, he was ordered to surrender to the police. Instead, he fled in a white Ford Bronco driven by his friend Al Cowlings. The low-speed chase across Los Angeles, broadcast live to an estimated 95 million viewers, became one of the most unforgettable spectacles in television history. When Simpson finally surrendered, America braced for what the media dubbed the Trial of the Century.Find a GraveRon Goldman, the friend of Nicole Brown who visited her the night of her murder and became a victim himself.But what happened before the chase? In the hypothetical scenario presented in If I Did It, Simpson had gone to talk with Brown at her home when Goldman showed up. Simpson, already angry, began shouting at the two, and Brown screamed like a banshee, lunged at him, lost her balance, and flipped over the stoop, cracking her head against the concrete. Simpson then snatched a knife from his friend, removed his right glove and, hypothetically, blacked out. When he came to, Brown was in a pool of blood in front of him, lying in the fetal position. A few feet away, Goldman was also slumped over in a puddle of blood. Public DomainThe scene of Nicole Brown Simpsons murder.I again looked down at myself, at my blood-soaked clothes, and noticed the knife in my hand, Simpson wrote. The knife was covered in blood, as were my hand and wrist and half of my right forearm.But Simpsons theoretical account of that night didnt come out until 2007, and he never claimed it was a true confession of what really happened. The version of events jurors heard in the ensuing trial, on the other hand, was not quite so explicit. The Trial Of The CenturyThe murder trial began in January 1995 and became a nine-month spectacle as people across the country tuned in. The prosecution, led by Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden, presented DNA evidence linking Simpson to the crime. Los Angeles Police DepartmentO.J. Simpsons mug shot after fleeing from police in a white Bronco.The defense, a dream team that included Robert Kardashian, Johnnie Cochran, Robert Shapiro, F. Lee Bailey, and Alan Dershowitz, countered with allegations of police misconduct and racism. The thing that secured Simpsons freedom, however, was nothing more than a glove. Prosecutors presented a bloodied glove found at the crime scene and asked Simpson to try it on. Simpson infamously struggled to pull it over his hands, seemingly unable to make it fit. He shrugged. In his closing argument, Cochran declared, If it doesnt fit, you must acquit.On Oct. 3, 1995, Simpson was acquitted of both murders. The verdict split public opinion largely along racial lines. To some, it was a victory against a biased system. To others, it was a miscarriage of justice. A civil court did find Simpson liable for Brown and Goldmans wrongful deaths two years later, however, and ordered him to pay $33.5 million in damages a demand that was never fulfilled before O.J. Simpsons death.This trial wasnt the last time Simpson found himself in hot water, though.O.J. Simpsons Death And Complicated LegacyBy the 2000s, Simpson had largely faded from public view, but the release of his hypothetical memoir and an incident in Las Vegas once again saw him at the center of a media firestorm. In September 2007, Simpson held a group of men hostage in a Las Vegas hotel room, supposedly to retrieve sports memorabilia he claimed they had stolen from him. The confrontation quickly turned violent.In 2008, a Nevada jury convicted Simpson of armed robbery, kidnapping, and related charges. As a result, he was sentenced to 33 years in prison, with the possibility of parole in 2017, just seven years before O.J. Simpsons death. He was indeed granted parole that year.A free man once more, Simpson settled into a quiet life in Las Vegas, though not an entirely silent one. He maintained a strong presence on social media TikTok, in particular and mostly talked about things like sports, golf, or current events. He never addressed his past controversies, other than to tell the Associated Press in 2019 that he was done talking about it. dpa picture alliance / Alamy Stock PhotoSimpson during the Trial of the Century.We dont need to go back and relive the worst day of our lives, Simpson said. The subject of the moment is the subject I will never revisit again. My family and I have moved on to what we call the no negative zone. We focus on the positives.Then, in 2023, reports emerged that he was battling prostate cancer. There were few updates until an announcement that O.J. Simpson died at his Las Vegas home on April 10, 2024. He was 76 years old. The public reception was understandably mixed, as his passing reignited conversations about his legacy and innocence. How should O.J. Simpson be remembered asa pioneering athlete whose accomplishments were overshadowed by tragedy, or a murderer who escaped justice?After learning the cause of O.J. Simpsons death, find out how Aaron Hernandez went from beloved football star to murderer. Then, read the horrifying story of Rodney Alcala, the killer who appeared on The Dating Game.The post The Death Of O.J. Simpson, The Former Football Star Whose Life Was Filled With Controversy appeared first on All That's Interesting.