O.J. Simpson‘s longtime lawyer is refuting the claim that the disgraced football player was surrounded by “children and grandchildren” when he died from prostate cancer on April 10.
Malcolm LaVergne, Simpson’s longtime lawyer, revealed that Simpson actually only had one “close family member” by his side, per the New York Post.
The lawyer did not identify who that family member was.
“You have to remember that they’ve shared OJ with the world their entire lives. At first, they shared good OJ. But still, he was famous. And then, in 1994 on, they kind of had to share bad boy OJ with the world,” LaVergne said of Simpson’s four surviving children Arnelle, Jason, Sydney and Justin.
The family shared the news of Simpson’s death via his Twitter/X account on April 11, in which they said he was “surrounded by his children and grandchildren.”
“His family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace,” the post said.
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“But at the end of the day, these children just lost a father. And they have the added burden that he is one of the most famous people on the planet, and who is polarizing and who is surrounded by controversy,” LaVergne said.
Simpson was famously acquitted of murder charges in the death of his second wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman in the ’90s.
The lawyer is the executor of Simpson’s estate and last had an in-depth conversation with the former NFL star just before Easter at his rented home in Las Vegas, the outlet reported.
“He was awake, alert and chilling. He’s on the couch … drinking a beer and watching TV. And so that was the last time we had effective back-and-forth conversations. He’s usually the one who keeps me up on the news … so we were just catching up on the news then,” LaVergne described of their last meeting.
The attorney is in charge of Simpson’s will, which names his four kids as the only beneficiaries of his estate, but it’s still unclear exactly how much Simpson left behind.
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