Nicole Brown Simpson's sister on her mission to 'shine a light' on domestic violence
Nearly three women are killed by an intimate partner every day in the U.S., according to the Violence Policy Center. Working to try to save women from that fate has become a mission for Denise Brown, sister of Nicole Brown Simpson.
"I want to talk to every victim out there, before it's too late," Brown told ABC News' Diane Sawyer as Domestic Violence Awareness Month begins. "You don't want to end up like Nicole."
Denise Brown's new book, "For My Sister Nicole: Love Shouldn't Hurt," will be released on Tuesday, Oct. 6.
Brown Simpson was 18 years old when she met O.J. Simpson, and Brown says the NFL player-turned-movie star lured her sister into what would become a cycle of domestic abuse. They married in 1985, and the Browns say Simpson's rage continued after the couple's divorce in 1992.
On June 12, 1994, Brown Simpson, 35, and Ron Goldman, 25, were stabbed to death outside Brown Simpson's Los Angeles home while her two young kids with Simpson slept inside.
Simpson was arrested for the double murder and his "trial of the century" captivated the country. In October 1995, Americans gathered around TVs to watch as Simpson was acquitted of all criminal charges.
In 1997, a civil jury found Simpson liable for wrongful death in the double murder and Simpson was ordered to pay millions in damages to the Goldmans and to Brown Simpson's estate.
Simpson, who later served time in prison for a botched robbery in Nevada, always said he was innocent of the killings. Simpson died from prostate cancer in 2024.
Thirty-two years after Brown Simpson's brutal killing, her sister continues to alert people to the dangers of intimate partner violence. She said she's haunted by what she sees as warning signs in her sister's relationship.
In one incident, she said, Simpson "started taking clothes out of the closet, throwing them down into the foyer ... ran back downstairs, grabbed Nicole by the throat, had her six inches off the ground."
"Strangulation ... it is a precursor to murder," Brown explained. "Nicole was strangled."
Brown said her sister rationalized the incident and insisted that Simpson apologized and said it wouldn't happen again.
The cycle of domestic violence can sometimes start with verbal criticism, followed by physical abuse, and then an apology, according to experts. If the abuse escalates to hands around the neck, the odds of being killed increases by 750%, the Journal of Emergency Medicine says.
On average, it takes a woman seven attempts to escape an abusive relationship, according to the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
Brown said victims tell her what locks them into the cycle and what keeps them from going to a shelter.
“There's three things that I've learned from women: hope, shame, and fear,” Brown said. “The hope that things are going to get better, the shame of not wanting anyone to know, and the fear of, ‘Where am I going to go?’ Especially if there's children.”
She noted that the shelters offer more personal space than people might think.
“But what I want them to know is that they're not dormitory-style beds in these places, they are homes,” Brown said. “You get your own bedroom, you get your own bathroom … you keep your family with you.”
Brown said she especially likes to speak with young people, including college women in sororities.
“I would love to go and speak to every single one of those chapters, because I think it's so important to reach people when they're young, before they get into these horrific relationships,” she said.
For Brown, that is her sister's legacy.
"This, to me, is probably one of the hardest realizations I came to. ... She was fated to become a person to shine a light on domestic violence," Brown said of her sister. "I think that was the reason she was put on this earth -- to crack the dirty little secret wide open and show the world that this could indeed happen to anyone."
People who are experiencing domestic violence can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or text START to 88788. Survivors can also contact their state or local hotlines.
