OJ Simpson says he worried he might die during COVID-19 battle, addresses Brown and Goldman murders

O.J. Simpson says a severe case of COVID-19 last year left him gasping for air and fearing his time had run out.

“When I had COVID, I almost couldn’t get out of bed,” Simpson told The Athletic in a new in-depth interview published Friday that also offered fresh comments on the double-murder case he was acquitted of. “I made it to my balcony, trying to breathe. I couldn’t catch my breath."

The 74-year-old NFL Hall of Famer who played for the Buffalo Bills, acted in movies and was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman during the so-called “Trial of the Century” said the medical scare caused him to discuss his final arrangements with his children.

“I felt vulnerable and for the first time thought I might be near the end. Since that day, I have wondered. Do I want to be buried? Do I want to be cremated? Years ago, I would have left it up to Nicole because I know she would have done the right thing,” Simpson told The Athletic.

“I know what I want my kids to do, but I don’t want to discuss it here,” he said.

Simpson, who was found civilly liable for killing his ex-wife 35, and Goldman, 25, and went on to spend nine years in a Nevada prison for an armed memorabilia heist at a Las Vegas casino, said other than his COVID case, his life on parole is quite comfortable.

“How many Americans, even today, wouldn’t like to live my life?” Simpson asked while drinking Bloody Mary cocktails and coffee at a Vegas sports bar. “I don’t work. I play golf four or five days a week. I go out to dinner a couple of nights with friends. People want to buy me drinks. I’m always taking pictures with people. Ladies hug me.”

While Simpson remains subject to a megabucks civil judgment won by Goldman’s family, his NFL and Screen Actors Guild pensions are shielded, giving him guaranteed income.

“I’m living a good life now,” he said.

Reflecting on how his inevitable obituary might read, Simpson was sanguine.

“I hope it starts out with football. I know they’re going to add the other stuff,” he said.

“The L.A. thing, unfortunately, some people wrongfully believe something, but I moved on. I still think I’m a good guy. I didn’t let it change me. It did for a while. I was angry for a while, but I treat everybody the way I want to be treated,” he said.

Simpson said he has no desire to return to Los Angeles, where he won a Heisman Trophy playing for the University of Southern California and enjoyed a lucrative Hollywood career before his notorious slow-speed Bronco chase and arrest for the double murder.

“I have trouble with L.A.,” Simpson told The Athletic. “People may think this is self-serving, but I might be sitting next to whoever did it. I really don’t know who did this.”

At least one ex-friend interviewed for the piece, former USC teammate Ron Yary, said he’s convinced Simpson killed Nicole and Goldman.

“The thought of taking a knife and plunging it into another person that you love and care about — or even that you’re angry with — takes a hell of a lot,” Yary told The Athletic when asked for his thoughts on Simpson’s legacy.

“Even in war, to kill a person with a knife is intimate. I don’t know if there’s a harder way to kill someone. You have to be out of your mind to commit a crime like that,” he said.

———