OJ Simpson was convinced he would “get better” before his death.
The 76-year-old former NFL player passed away last week following a battle with prostate cancer but his longtime friend Bruce Fromong revealed OJ was expecting to make a recovery.
“I just give me a little bit of time. Let me get to feeling better.” speaking about OJ cancelling a planned memorabilia signing over a week before his death, Bruce, 70, said OJ told him.
“I went, ‘Huh, it’s so bad you can’t…’. “Because he enjoyed getting around the guys and signing. That meant he was really not feeling well. We thought he was getting better, and he was not. It’s the end of a long friendship. I will always be a friend that will think about him.” Bruce said.
Simpson was arrested in 1994 for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown, 35, and her friend Ron Goldman, 25, at her Los Angeles home and was sensationally acquitted after an 11-month trial in which his $50,000-a-day, nine-strong ‘Dream Team’ line-up of attorneys argued police mishandled DNA evidence.
Even though Simpson was spared jail, a separate civil trial jury found the former NFL player-turned actor liable for the deaths in 1997 and ordered him to pay $33.5million to their families.
The Goldman family had been pursuing the money up to the point of Simpson’s death after reportedly only receiving $123,000.
Debt collection attorney David Cook who is working for Ron’s dad said the debt with interest has now grown to more than $100 million.
Simpson was living in a $3.6 million five-bedroom house while he battled cancer.
In 2017, it was alleged he had transferred money to his children Sydney, 38, and Justin Simpson, 35, to avoid payment off his civil compensation debt, but they deny the claim.
Meanwhile, in 2007, Fromong and several other sports memorabilia dealers were robbed and held up at gunpoint by Simpson and a group of armed men at the Las Vegas Palace Station.
OJ was found guilty on 12 charges, including robbery and kidnapping and was sentenced to 33 years in prison.
However, he was released in 2017 after Fromong testified in support of him being freed.
