‘O.J.: Made in America’ Recalls Simpson’s First Family
Marguerite Whitley and O.J. Simpson attend a 1977 movie premiere. (Photo: Michael Ochs/Archives/Getty Images)
O.J. Simpson will forever be inextricably linked to Nicole Brown Simpson. But as audiences are reminded in ESPN’s new five-part documentary, O.J.: Made in America, she was not his first wife.
The woman who was, Marguerite Whitley (who sometimes went by Marquerite) met O.J. in his high school days in San Francisco. For a while, he was just the friend of her boyfriend, Al “A.C." Cowlings — the same guy behind the wheel of the white Bronco during the infamous Bronco chase on June 17, 1994.
As the New York Times explained in 1994, Cowlings and Simpson were so close at the time that A.C. asked O.J. to talk to Marguerite when he and his girlfriend were having problems. O.J.’s informal counseling of Marguerite went a little too well. They ended up dating and in 1967, when he was 19 and she was 18, O.J. and Marguerite married.
The newlyweds spent much of their 12-year marriage in Amherst, N.Y., a suburb of Buffalo, while he played for the Buffalo Bills from 1969 to 1977. They later relocated to California for his two-season stint with the San Francisco 49ers. Along the way, they welcomed daughter Arnelle (1968), son Jason (1970), and daughter Aaren (1977), who tragically drowned in a swimming pool before her second birthday, only months after her parents divorced.
O.J. Simpson and Marguerite pose with their kids in 1973. (Photo: Michael Ochs/Archives/Getty Images)
There were early signs that the young marriage wouldn’t last a lifetime. Beginning in 1970, the couple went through separations, and she went as far as asking her lawyer to begin divorce proceedings in 1973 before changing her mind.
The problem was "The Juice’s” fame, her lawyer in the divorce, Harry F. Fain, told the Times.
“She lent an element of stability to him — mother, homemaker, things like that,” Fain said. “Then he becomes a celebrity and the marriage begins to fail."
Marguerite and O.J. Simpson broke up several times. (Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Records from their 1979 split reportedly show that Marguerite never accused O.J. of abuse. However, after the divorce, he alleged that she "threatened him with physical abuse, libel, and slander and to call the police,” the Times reported.
O.J. met Nicole Brown — who was working as a waitress at the Beverly Hills nightclub the Daisy — in 1977, which was around the same time his first marriage and his career as a pro football player were ending. She was 18 and he was 30. O.J. and Nicole soon started dating and walked down the aisle in 1985. (They added daughter Sydney and son Justin to the family in 1985 and 1988, respectively.)
O.J. Simpson and Nicole Brown Simpson. (Photo: Getty Images)
Related: See What O.J. Simpson’s Children Sydney and Justin Look Like Today
While there would be plenty of interest in interviews or books from O.J.’s first wife, Marguerite, today, she has remained noticeably silent. She did not grant an interview for the new ESPN doc, and she hasn't for any media outlet in years. Her most notable sit-down was with Barbara Walters for 20/20 in February 1995.
“You know what the big question is that everyone wants to ask you,” Walters said. “Did O.J. Simpson ever physically abuse you?"
Marguerite, who was married to a third husband at the time, gave more than a "no” for her answer.
“If he did, he would have got a frying pan upside his head,” Marguerite retorted. “There was just no way that I would allow that to happen to me."
Marguerite’s children with O.J. have also kept a low profile. The two are in their 40s now, and their names rarely come up, save the occasional deposition or conspiracy theory.
