OJ Simpson’s official cause of death revealed

Disgraced former NFL star OJ Simpson’s official cause of death has been revealed.

Simpson, who was infamously acquitted of murder in 1995 over the deaths of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman, died of prostate cancer, according to his attorney Malcolm LaVergne.

He died on 10 April at the age of 76. The news was announced by his family online the next day.

Simpson previously revealed he was battling an unspecified form of cancer in May 2023, but had suggested he’d beaten the disease in posts online. Mr Lavergne told TMZ that he had received a copy of Simpson’s death certificate, and confirmed the precise cause of death to the outlet on Friday.

Despite his condition Simpson had been “awake, alert and chilling,” in the days before his death. Mr LaVergne said that in one of the last visits to the former football player that he had been “on the couch ... drinking a beer and watching TV.

“He’s usually the one who keeps me up on the news ... so we were just catching up on the news then,” he said at the time.

About a week later, on 5 April, a doctor said Simpson was “transitioning,” as Mr LaVergne described it. The last time Mr LaVergne visited, Simpson only had strength to ask for water and to choose to watch a TV golf tournament instead of a tennis match.

The news of the former athlete and actor’s death was announced via a post on 11 April from his family on X, formerly Twitter, which said Simpson “succumbed to his battle with cancer.” It asked on their behalf for “privacy and grace.”

Simpson’s remains were cremated, with a small service attended by close family members took place last week. Shortly after, Mr Lavergne, who attended the event, told The Daily Mail that the former NFL star had had a “fantastic” final few years.

“OJ wouldn’t want anyone to feel sad for him. He’d tell you straight up, man, he’s had a great life, happy life, certainly, he had his trials and tribulations, but his last seven years were fantastic, so he wouldn’t want anyone feeling sorry for him,” Mr LaVergne told the Mail.

“He would have liked a few more years to see his grandkids get a little bit older. But he was basically content at the end.”

Simpson was famously acquitted of criminal charges alleging he stabbed his ex-wife and her friend, Ronald Goldman, to death in 1994 in Los Angeles. The proceedings in California became known as the “trial of the century.”

He was found liable for the deaths in 1997 by a separate California civil court jury and was ordered to pay the families of Simpson’s slain ex-wife and Goldman $33.5m in compensation. Mr LaVergne acknowledged Simpson died without paying the bulk of that judgment.

Years later in Las Vegas, Simpson went to prison in 2008 for nine years after being found guilty of armed robbery in a 2007 encounter at a casino hotel with two collectables dealers.

He was released from prison in October 2017, with his parole conditions lifted in 2021.

Before his run-ins with the law, Simpson was a record-setting football star for 11 years as a running back in the NFL and became a movie actor, sportscaster and television advertising pitchman.