NBC football announcer O.J. Simpson at the Buffalo Bills against Los Angeles Raiders NFL game on Dec. 8, 1991, in Los Angeles. (Gary Newkirk/ALLSPORT/Getty Images/TNS)
Prior to being accused of and acquitted in the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, O.J. Simpson physically assaulted his first wife, Marguerite Whitley, according to a former cop.
Simpson, who died of prostate cancer in April, “became violent with [Whitley],” according to the recollection of retired Los Angeles police officer Terry Shauer, who’s featured in Lifetime’s latest docuseries, “The Life & Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson.”
Shauer says in the first of four episodes — premiering Saturday at 8 p.m. ET — that he and another officer responded to a domestic violence incident at Simpson and Whitley’s home in the 1970s, per People.
“She had got into an argument with her husband and during the course of the argument, he became violent with her, struck her, and as I recall, pulled out some of her hair,” Shauer claims. “My memory is that there was a clump of hair on the floor in the entryway of the home.”
Shauer notes the couple’s children “were there” and seemed “upset.”
Though Simpson “had left the scene” prior to cops arriving, Whitley “didn’t really want to go into a lot of details” of the incident and “just wanted to leave the house,” Shauer says.
“She declined to report [the abuse] and wouldn’t sign a report,” he claims.
In a subsequent interview, Whitley’s sister, Veterdata Jones, says that rather than her speaking out on the alleged abuse, Whitley “should address that herself, if she wants that aired and publicized.”
Whitley, according to People, was not interviewed in the first episode, though the documentary includes a quote on the screen saying, “Marguerite Simpson has publicly denied any domestic abuse by O.J. Simpson.”
The former couple was married from 1967 to 1979, though they separated several times during that period, beginning in 1970, according to The New York Times.
They shared son Jason as well as daughters Arnelle and Aaren, the latter of whom drowned at 23 months old in their family pool.
Though Simpson never served time for the murders of Brown and Goldman, a civil court found him liable for their wrongful deaths and ordered him to pay $33.5 million in damages to the victims’ families. But those payments never came.
Due to interest, Simpson died owing Goldman’s family $114 million, according to their lawyer.
Simpson did ultimately serve prison time when he was convicted in 2008 for the armed robbery of a Las Vegas casino, for which he was granted parole in 2017.
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Originally published at New York Daily News