O.J. Simpson passed away this week after a short battle with cancer, RadarOnline.com can report. He was 76.
Orenthal James Simpson’s family confirmed his sudden passing on Thursday morning.
“On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer,” the Simpson family announced in a statement via X. “He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren.”
“During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace,” his family concluded.
The former NFL star, actor, and acquitted murder defendant was diagnosed with prostate cancer this past February.
There were rumors that Simpson was receiving hospice care shortly after his prostate cancer diagnosis was announced earlier this year, although the former football star quickly dismissed such rumors in a video posted to X.
Simpson also suffered a health scare back in July 2023 involving his heart. He ultimately underwent a procedure to have a stent placed during an emergency surgery just months before his passing.
“My heart is giving out,” Simpson confided to a friend at the time.
"The doctors want him to rest at home because there isn’t much they can do for him,” another source said just months before Simpson’s death this week at 76. “O.J.’s got it in his head that he’s going to die from a massive heart attack.”
“It’s driving him crazy and adding even more stress to his troubled life. He believes he is dying in plain sight and the end is near.”
Simpson later rushed to X to dismiss the heart attack rumors – although he did not deny the rumors about having a stint placed in his chest.
"I never knew I had a heart attack,” he said in July, “a heart attack would feel a lot worse than whatever this is.”
Never miss a story — sign up for the RadarOnline.com newsletter to get your daily dose of dope. Daily. Breaking. Celebrity news. All free.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Simpson was best known as an NFL star-turned-actor before he was accused of brutally murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in Los Angeles in June 1994.
Simpson was ultimately acquitted of the double murder in October 1995 following an eleven-month trial.
Flash forward to 1997, and Simpson was found liable for Brown and Goldman’s deaths in a civil trial. He was ordered to pay $33.5 million in damages to both victims’ families.
Simpson was later found guilty of various felony charges – including kidnapping and robbery – in connection with a botched Las Vegas robbery in 2008. He was later granted parole in July 2017 after nearly nine years behind bars.
O.J. Simpson is now survived by his four children – including Arnelle and Jason from his first marriage as well as and Sydney and Justin from his marriage to Brown.