True Crime
Who Is O.J. Simpson’s First Wife? Get to Know the Mysterious Marguerite Simpson
Shrouded in mystery. O.J. Simpson’s name is currently back in the news after his former book publisher Judith Regan claimed in a new interview that the fallen NFL star confessed to the murders of his second ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, during secret 2006 meetings for his chilling, hypothetical book about the crimes (of which he was acquitted) called If I Did It.
Despite Judith’s allegations about O.J. admitting to Nicole and Ron’s gruesome double homicide, many true crime enthusiasts can’t help but wonder what happened to his first wife, Marguerite Simpson, who has remained out of the public eye for decades. Here, In Touch rounded up the most interesting facts you need to know about O.J.’s very private former spouse.
Marguerite was uncomfortable with O.J.’s fame.
Marguerite and O.J. at a movie premiere in 1977. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)
O.J., now 70, rose to fame in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s as a celebrated football player. With his immense success came immense fascination about his personal life. According to O.J., Marguerite — his high school sweetheart, whom he married in 1967 and divorced in 1979 — couldn’t handle the heat of the spotlight. “The price of fame was our biggest problem,” he told People in 1979. “My wife is a private person, yet we can’t walk down the street without causing a commotion.”
She went on to marry two other men after divorcing O.J.
Several years after officially calling it quits with O.J., Marguerite tied the knot with a transit supervisor named Ralph Lewis in 1986. However, they divorced in 1991. It only took a year for Marguerite to move on to another man. This time, she wed a furniture sales rep named Anthony Thomas in 1992. It remains uncertain if Marguerite and Anthony are still together.
Marguerite defended O.J. one year after Nicole Brown Simpson’s murder.
In 1995, Marguerite opened up about her marriage to O.J. in a rare interview with Barbara Walters for ABC’s 20/20. During her talk with the TV legend, Marguerite insisted that O.J. was never abusive. “If he did [abuse me], he would have got a frying pan upside his head,” she said at the time. “There was just no way that I would allow that to happen to me.” Contrarily, according to court documents filed after their divorce, Marguerite allegedly refused to move out of their Brentwood house and was the one who “threatened him with physical abuse, libel, and slander and to call the police.”
Marguerite claimed she believed O.J. was innocent.
While speaking to Ms. Walters, Marguerite said that she didn’t think O.J. was guilty of killing Nicole and Ron: “He’s just not like that.”
Marguerite and O.J. share three children.
O.J. and Marguerite with daughter Arnelle and son Jason in 1973. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)
During their marriage, Marguerite and O.J. had three kids together — daughter Arnelle, now 49, son Jason, now 47, and daughter Aaren, who tragically drowned to death at two years old in 1979. Just like her children, Marguerite has kept herself — and whatever she’s up to these days — completely hidden regardless of the public’s newfound interest in her infamous ex-husband.
