On December 5 of 2008, Orenthal James ‘O.J.’ Simpson was sentenced to 33 years in prison for armed robbery and kidnapping. It was his second major run-in with the law after famously being accused of the murders of his ex-wife and her friend in 1994. In the 90s, Simpson was acquitted after a very lengthy, headline-grabbing trial, but in 2007, he was convicted, serving a total of nine years before being released in 2017. Before his remarkable fall from grace, Simpson was one a highly successful, record-breaking NFL running back. This is his story.
The Early Life of O.J.
O.J. Simpson was born on July 9 of 1947. He was born to Eunice and Jimmy Lee Simpson. His mother worked as a hospital admin worker, while his father had multiple jobs and was a homosexual but kept this side of his life a secret for many years. When O.J. was just five years old, his parents split up.
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He also struggled with health issues in his early life, developing rickets and having to wear leg braces. Growing up in the projects of San Francisco, O.J. started having trouble with the law as early as his teenage years. He joined up with a gang and was arrested multiple times.