O.J. Simpson is dead now. He took whatever secrets he had left to the grave in April 2024, but the world is still obsessed with one specific question: Did O.J. ever admit to killing Nicole? It depends on who you ask. If you’re looking for a signed confession or a "yes, I did it" in a court of law, you won’t find it. He was acquitted in the 1995 "Trial of the Century." He maintained his innocence for decades. Yet, for many people, he spent the last thirty years of his life doing everything but saying the words. He teased it. He wrote about it. He "hypothesized" about it.
He stayed in this weird, uncomfortable gray area between a denial and a wink.
The "If I Did It" controversy and the hypothetical confession
The closest we ever got to a confession was the 2007 book project If I Did It. It was a PR disaster of historic proportions. Honestly, it’s still hard to believe a publisher thought this was a good idea. The book was billed as a hypothetical account of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
Simpson didn't technically say he killed them in the book's promotional cycle. He framed it as a "what if" scenario. But the details were hauntingly specific. In the chapter titled "The Night in Question," Simpson describes going to Nicole’s condo with a friend named "Charlie."
In this "hypothetical" version of events, O.J. confronts Nicole and Ron. He describes a blackout. He mentions "seeing a lot of blood." He talks about being covered in it.
The Goldman family eventually won the rights to the book as part of their $33.5 million civil judgment against Simpson. They changed the title to If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer. They even shrank the word "If" so small on the cover that it looked like it just said I Did It.
Is a "hypothetical" book a confession? Not legally. But to the public, it felt like he was gloating. It felt like he was saying, "I can tell you exactly how it happened because I was there, and you can't touch me."
That 2006 interview with Judith Regan
There is a video out there that makes people's skin crawl. In 2006, Simpson sat down for an interview with Judith Regan to promote the book. The interview was shelved for over a decade because of the massive public outcry, but Fox finally aired it in 2018 as a special called The Lost Confession?
During the interview, O.J. describes the "hypothetical" night. He starts talking in the first person. He describes seeing Ron Goldman in a karate stance. He describes Nicole falling and hurting herself.
Then, he says something that stopped everyone in their tracks.
He started laughing.
He told Regan, "I forget the particulars, but I remember I’ll admit I grabbed the knife—I do remember that portion, taking the knife from Charlie and I can’t admit it beyond that."
He caught himself. He went back to saying "if" and "hypothetically." But for a split second, the mask slipped. He spoke as if he were recounting a memory, not a story.
Did O.J. ever admit to killing Nicole to his friends?
There have been rumors for years about private admissions.
One of the most notable comes from Mike Gilbert, O.J.'s former sports agent. In his 2008 book The Confession, Gilbert claims Simpson admitted to the killings while they were sitting in Simpson’s backyard in Brentwood weeks after the trial. According to Gilbert, O.J. had been drinking beer and taking sleeping pills.
Gilbert says O.J. told him, "If she hadn’t opened the door with a knife, she’d still be alive."
It’s a chilling detail. It suggests O.J. felt Nicole was responsible for her own death. But Gilbert has his detractors. Critics point out that he wrote the book years after a falling out with Simpson. Others argue he was just trying to cash in on the tragedy.
Then there’s Rosey Grier.
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Grier was a former NFL star and a minister who visited O.J. in jail during the criminal trial. During one visit, a sheriff's deputy allegedly overheard Simpson yelling, "I didn't mean to do it!" or something similar. The defense fought hard to keep that conversation private, citing "clergy-penitent privilege." The judge eventually ruled that the deputy’s testimony couldn't be used.
We’ll never know what O.J. actually told Rosey Grier. Grier has remained tight-lipped about the details of their spiritual sessions.
The civil trial: A different kind of admission
While the 1995 criminal trial ended in "not guilty," the 1997 civil trial was a different story entirely.
The jury found Simpson "liable" for the deaths. In the eyes of the civil court, he did it. The burden of proof in a civil case is lower—"preponderance of the evidence" rather than "beyond a reasonable doubt."
During the civil trial, Simpson was forced to testify. He was shredded by the plaintiffs' attorneys. They caught him in numerous lies, specifically regarding the Bruno Magli shoes. Simpson had sworn under oath he never owned those "ugly ass shoes." Then, the attorneys produced dozens of photos of him wearing those exact shoes at NFL games.
He didn't "admit" to the murder, but he was caught lying about the evidence. To a jury, and to the public, lying about the shoes was practically an admission of guilt. Why lie about shoes if you weren't at the crime scene where those shoes left bloody prints?
The psychological perspective: Why never a full confession?
If he did it, why wouldn't he just say it later in life? He was already broke. He was already a pariah. He eventually went to prison for a separate robbery in Las Vegas anyway.
Psychologists and body language experts have analyzed Simpson for decades. Many point to his narcissism. A narcissist rarely admits fault in a way that makes them look like a "villain." Even in his "hypothetical" confession, he framed it as a confrontation where things got out of hand—almost like he was the victim of a chaotic situation.
By keeping it "hypothetical," he maintained control. He kept the conversation going. He stayed relevant.
Key moments that felt like admissions
- The Bronco Chase: Many saw the slow-speed chase and his "suicide note" as a confession of a guilty man.
- The Suicide Threat: He allegedly held a gun to his head in Kim Kardashian's bedroom. Friends say he was distraught, but was it over the crime or the looming arrest?
- The Las Vegas Robbery: Some believe he was trying to reclaim his own memorabilia because he felt the world had "stolen" his life from him after the trial.
What the evidence still tells us
The DNA evidence in the 1995 trial was overwhelming.
- Nicole’s blood was on O.J.’s socks in his bedroom.
- O.J.’s blood was at the crime scene.
- Ron Goldman’s blood was in O.J.’s Bronco.
The defense team, the "Dream Team," did a masterful job of putting the LAPD on trial instead of O.J. They focused on Mark Fuhrman’s racism and the mishandling of blood samples. They created enough doubt to get an acquittal.
But the evidence didn't go away. It just wasn't enough for that specific jury at that specific time.
The legal finality
Under the U.S. Constitution, "double jeopardy" prevented O.J. from ever being tried again for the murders, even if he had walked onto the 50-yard line of a football stadium and screamed "I did it" into a microphone. He was safe from the law.
Yet, he still chose the "if" instead of the "I."
Actionable insights for those following the case history
If you are researching the Simpson case or looking for the truth behind the "confession" rumors, here is how to navigate the noise:
- Read the Civil Trial Transcripts: If you want to see O.J. actually pressured on the facts, the civil trial is much more revealing than the criminal trial. It shows the evidence the criminal jury didn't fully weigh.
- Watch the 2006 Regan Interview: Look for the transitions between his third-person storytelling and his first-person slips. It is the most telling footage of him in existence.
- Understand the Legal Terms: Remember that "Not Guilty" is not the same as "Innocent." It simply means the prosecution didn't meet the high bar of proof required by law.
- Ignore the "Charlie" Theory: Most experts believe "Charlie" from the If I Did It book was a fictional creation to allow O.J. to describe the murders without taking 100% of the manual blame. There is zero evidence a second person was at the scene.
O.J. Simpson spent the last years of his life in Las Vegas, playing golf and posting videos on X (formerly Twitter). He talked about football. He talked about politics. He never talked about what happened at 875 South Bundy Drive on June 12, 1994.
He left us with a mountain of DNA, a hypothetical book, and a series of "what ifs." For the families of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman, the lack of a formal confession remains a final, stinging insult. But for the rest of the world, the "lost confession" and the civil verdict are as close to an admission as we are ever going to get.
The case is closed legally, but the question of did O.J. ever admit to killing Nicole will likely remain a part of American true crime lore forever. He didn't have to say it for the world to feel like they knew the answer.