Nicole Brown Simpson’s sister Tanya broke down in tears on The View as she paid emotional tribute to her late sibling – lamenting the fact that O.J. Simpson’s murdered spouse is remembered by so many as just a ‘body at the bottom of a staircase’.
Tanya made an appearance during Friday’s live episode of the ABC chat show, alongside her sisters Dominique and Denise, ahead of the release of their Lifetime documentary The Life & Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson.
After discussing Brown Simpson’s 1994 murder and the speculation surrounding her husband O.J.’s involvement, panelist Ana Navarro, 52, asked how Tanya would like to remember her late sibling.
‘I think people remember Nicole as the body at the bottom of a staircase covered by a white bloody sheet and a battered woman and the wife of Simpson,’ Tanya began.
‘Nicole was a daughter, a sister and a really good wife and a really good mom, and she was a human being who walked this Earth, and she was wonderful.’
Nicole Brown Simpson’s sister Tanya broke down in tears on The View as she paid an emotional tribute to the late star
Next month marks the 30-year anniversary of Brown Simpson’s murder, for which her husband OJ was famously acquitted
At this point, Tanya became visibly upset and started to choke up.
‘She would literally give the shirt off of her back to make sure you had a place to go to for a holiday, a birthday, a Christmas,’ she continued, before having to take a breath to compose herself.
‘I’m the crying one in the family, sorry.’
Explaining her emotions, Tanya added: ‘You see, my sadness comes from because I’m so much younger that I was just getting to know her and then her candle got blown out but she was really a simple girl.
‘She was, you know, denim and diamonds. Like you could take her to the beach and the White House all in one day.’
Brown Simpson was 35 when she was brutally stabbed outside her LA home on June, 15, 1995. She was killed alongside her boyfriend Ronald Goldman, who was 25 at the time.
Her young children – Sydney, 38, and Justin, 35 – were just eight and five, respectively, when she was killed.
Panelist Ana Navarro (pictured) asked Tanya how she would like to remember her late sibling
Tanya, Denise, and Nicole during their younger days, around the time she was working as a waitress, planning to study photography, and met her future husband
Tanya praised her late sister for being a devoted mother to her children Sydney and Justin, who were just eight and five, respectively, when their mother was killed
Brown Simpson’s late husband, Simpson, was famously acquitted of all criminal charges, though in 1997, a civil jury found the football star liable for wrongful death.
Following Brown Simpson’s death, her sister Dominique said she found her personal handwritten diaries which detailed many of the times Simpson had physically beaten her and the injuries he had inflicted upon her.
Simpson himself died on April 10 at the age of 76 following a battle with prostate cancer.
Earlier this week, Brown Simpson’s sisters revealed their ‘happiness’ at learning that her former spouse and suspected killer Simpson was dead – with her sibling Denise opening up about the relief she felt after hearing of the NFL star’s passing.
‘On that day, I was happy. When I heard the news, I was like, “Oh my God, finally,” she described of her reaction to his demise.
From the last Brown family photo, take on Mother’s Day 1994. It shows from left to right, Denise, Nicole, Dominique, mother Juditha, and youngest Tanya
Simpson shows the jury a new pair of Aris extra-large gloves, similar to the gloves found at the LA crime scene during his double murder trial, which has inspired controversy
‘But then, it kind of sunk in, “Wait a minute, there’s Sydney and Justin,” Denise continued.
‘I was like, “Wow, OK. I’m happy for me, I don’t have to look over my shoulder any more,” Denise clarified. I wasn’t afraid of him.
‘He was just always there, his presence, they were always talking about him in the media, things were always going on, but then it was that sadness for the kids because now they don’t have a mom or a dad.
‘So yeah, it was hard. It was tough,’ Denise added.
‘It was very overwhelming,’ Dominique admitted.