Nicole Simpson’s ex-boyfriend knew about OJ Simpson’s domestic abuse and says it was an open secret in Hollywood.
Joseph Perrulli dated Simpson in 1992, whom he met through Kris Jenner, when she was newly separated from the football legend, but learned early on that OJ was violent.
“I had people in the [movie] industry telling me about, you know, informing me about his abuse, so I knew,” he told Page Six in a recent exclusive interview.
Perrulli added that there was little anyone could do about the former Buffalo Bills player’s abuse.
“We were all powerless,” he explained. “He was still a spokesperson for a very big company [Hertz], a rental car company, and he was still a sportscaster. So, you know, everybody was powerless, and it seemed like he could do what he wanted. And he did.”
Nicole had also confided in Perrulli, telling him that the retired athlete had beaten her so badly, she feared for her life.
Perrulli, 65, who has written a book about their relationship called “The Forgotten Briefcase,” said that although he was deeply in love with the mother of two, he eventually broke up with her because of OJ.
During their time together, he was frightened to discover that OJ spied on him and Nicole at her Brentwood home, and followed them while they jogged.
The final straw was when he had a disturbing dream about himself and Nicole driving and falling off a cliff to their deaths.
The next morning, he collected all the momentos from their time together, put them in a briefcase, hid it and then distanced himself from Nicole, despite being deeply in love with her.
The two last saw each other at Christmas time in 1993, at a Jenner family holiday party.
“She wanted to be friends,” Perrulli explained. “It was very difficult to be friends with her when I was in love with her, trying to maintain a platonic relationship like that.”
The party was uncomfortable because Nicole was there with OJ. However, Perrulli believed that he “would see her again. I would apologize, but I got the phone call six months later that she’d been murdered.”
In 1994, Nicole, 35, was murdered outside her Los Angeles home, along with her friend Ron Goldman.
She and the “Naked Gun” star married in 1985 and shared two children, a daughter, Sydney, and a son, Justin. They divorced in 1992 but later reconciled. The marriage was marred by multiple accounts of domestic violence.
The police responded to a call on December 31, 1989, when Nicole said she believed OJ was going to kill her. Responding officers found her hiding in bushes, “badly beaten and half-naked.” He eventually pleaded no contest to spousal abuse.
OJ was found not guilty of murder in 1995. The following year, a civil jury found him liable for the murders.
He died in 2024 at age 76.
The entrepreneur said he had never planned to write a book about their time together, but in 2024, he rediscovered the briefcase.
“I spent close to four hours on the stairs rediscovering this woman and and and realizing who she was,” he shared. “All these little mementos. I’d say they humanized her. She was a victim. And because of the way we broke things off, I. I ignored how much I loved her.”
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