O.J. Simpson’s Remains Become Keepsake Jewelry For His Four Children
Source: ANDREW GOMBERG / Getty
It’s not the jewelry you or I would want, but maybe O.J. Simpson’s loved ones can appreciate it. TMZ reports that the remains of the former football star, who was acquitted in his ex-wife’s murder, will be made into commemorative jewelry for his four children.
The outlet says that Simpson’s lawyer, Malcolm LaVergne, confirmed that ‘cremation jewelry’ was created for Simpson’s four adult children, Arnelle, 55, Jason, 54, Sydney 38, and Justin, 36. LaVergne is now the executor of the Simpson estate and is therefore involved in all financial decisions after his death from prostate cancer in April.
He shared his oldest two kids with his first wife, Marguerite Whitley, Simpson’s high school sweetheart. (Another daughter, Aeren, died in a swimming pool accident as a toddler.) His younger children’s mother was O.J.’s second wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, who was murdered at her Los Angeles condo in 1994 when Sydney and Justin were just 5 and 8 years old.
In a blockbuster trial that generated global publicity, Simpson was acquitted of her murder and the murder of Ron Goldman, a waiter at an L.A. restaurant who went to Nicole’s home to return a pair of sunglasses she’d left behind at dinner that night.
It appears that his children maintained a relationship with Simpson and were with him when he passed away at his Los Vegas home at the age of 76. In all the years since the trial, they have never spoken publicly about the murders or their father and have led lives away from the spotlight.
The case and its aftermath were chronicled in the five-part 2016 documentary, O.J. Simpson: Made in America, which won an Oscar for director Ezra Edelman.
LaVergne didn’t specify what kind of jewelry was created for the kids though pendants and bracelets often with miniature urn charms are common, according to TMZ. He did say the cost to do it including the cremation and the jewelry was almost $4300. (That sounds absurdly low if cremation was involved as that alone can run into the thousands.)
Jason and Sydney live and work in real estate in St. Petersburg, Florida. In 2022, Jason announced that he and his girlfriend were expecting their first child. He has not posted on social media since then. Sydney does not appear to have a public social media account. In 2016, Jason worked as a chef in Atlanta and then moved to Venice, California, to work as a culinary director.
In 2021, he told a culinary podcast, The Food That Binds that, “There was a time when my dad was famous, and there was a time when he was infamous,” he said. “And I know that when he was famous, I didn’t want him around then because I didn’t want him to take away from something I took very serious, which was cooking.”
Arnelle Simpson, a Howard University graduate has been the most vocal about her father in the years past the murders. She spoke at his parole board hearing in 2017 when O.J. was serving time for theft for stealing his own memorabilia.
“As a family, we recognize he’s not the perfect man, but as a man and a father he has done his best to behave in a way that speaks to his overall nature and character,” she said at the time.
