Nicole Brown Simpson’s sister Tanya broke down in tears on The View as she paid an emotional tribute to her late sibling. She lamented the fact that OJ Simpson’s murdered husband is remembered by so many as just a “body at the bottom of a staircase.”
Tanya appeared on 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 the 1994 murder of Brown Simpson and the speculation surrounding her husband OJ’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 in a white, bloody sheet and a battered woman and Simpson’s wife,” Tanya began.
“Nicole was a daughter and a sister and a very good wife and a very good mother, 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 30th anniversary of Brown Simpson’s murder, for which her husband OJ was famously acquitted
At that point, Tanya became visibly upset and began to choke.
“She literally took the shirt off her back to make sure you had a place to go for a holiday, a birthday, a Christmas,” she continued, before having to take a deep breath to collect herself .
“I’m the crying one of the family, sorry.”
Explaining her emotions, Tanya added, “You see, my sadness is because I’m so much younger, I just met her and then her candle was blown out, but she really was a simple girl.
“She was, you know, denim and diamonds. Like you could take her to the beach and the White House in one day.”
Brown Simpson was 35 when she was brutally stabbed outside her LA home on June 15, 1995. She was murdered along with her boyfriend Ronald Goldman, who was 25 at the time.
Her young children – Sydney, 38, and Justin, 35 – were 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 years, around the time she worked as a waitress, wanted 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 murdered.
Brown Simpson’s late husband, Simpson, was famously acquitted of all criminal charges, although a civil jury in 1997 found the football star liable for wrongful death.
After Brown Simpson’s death, her sister Dominique said she found her personal handwritten diaries, which detailed the number of times Simpson physically hit her and the injuries he inflicted on her.
Simpson himself died on April 10 at the age of 76 after a battle with prostate cancer.
Earlier this week, Brown Simpson’s sisters revealed their “happiness” upon hearing that her former husband and suspected killer Simpson was dead – with her sibling Denise opening up about the relief she felt after hearing of the NFL’s passing star.
‘I was happy that day. When I heard the news, I thought, “Oh my God, finally,” she described her reaction to his death.
From the last Brown family photo, taken on Mother’s Day 1994. Showing from left to right are Denise, Nicole, Dominique, mother Juditha and the youngest Tanya.
Simpson shows the jury a new pair of oversized Aris gloves, similar to those found at the LA crime scene during his double murder trial, which has sparked controversy
“But then it dawned on me, ‘Wait a minute, there’s Sydney and Justin,’” Denise continued.
“I thought, ‘Wow, OK. I’m happy for myself, I don’t have to look over my shoulder anymore,'” Denise clarified. I wasn’t afraid of him.
“He was just always there, his presence, they were always talking about him in the media, there were always things going on, but then it was sadness for the children because now they don’t have a mother or father.
“So yeah, it was hard. It was tough,” Denise added.
“It was very overwhelming,” Dominique admitted.