With the death of O.J. Simpson, Kris Jenner and other members of the family of the late Robert Kardashian were reminded of their deep and sometimes troubling connection to the disgraced former football star.
This was especially for Khloe Kardashian, who has long been the subject of a persistent but unsubstantiated rumor that she secretly was his biological daughter.
Soon after news broke Thursday that Simpson had died of prostate cancer, Khloe Kardashian’s social media accounts were inundated with messages from people expressing sympathy, no doubt in a joking, mean-spirited way.
LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES: Murder defendant O.J. Simpson (R) listens to testimony by the Los Angeles County Coroner 07 June on how his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, died of a deep slashing wound to her neck. The Coroner detailed how he estimated that a 6-inch knife was used to cut her neck almost to the spinal column. Next to Simpson is attorney Robert Kardashian. AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read Vince Bucci/AFP via Getty Images)
“My condolences,” wrote one person in reply to her recent Instagram post, showing her walking on a white-sand beach. “Sorry Khloe for ur loss,” said another. Someone else said, “My most heartfelt sympathies on the loss of your father OJ.”
The rumors that Khloe Kardashian was Simpson’s secret daughter go back to at least 2011, when her mother, Kris Jenner, revealed in her memoir, “All Things Kardashian,” that she had an affair while married to attorney Robert Kardashian, the father of Khloe, Kim, Kourtney and Rob Kardashian, according to Us Weekly.
Robert Kardashian was a long-time friend of Simpson, and people latched onto the idea that Kris Jenner’s affair could have involved the fallen football hero, Us Weekly reported. That’s largely because Robert Kardashian’s second wife, Jan Ashley, alleged in an interview, after his 2003 death, that Khloe Kardashian was not his biological daughter, according to Us Weekly.
Ashley married Robert Kardashian after his 1991 divorce from Kris Jenner. In 2012, Ashley said in the interview: “Khloé is not his kid — he told me that after we got married. He just kind of looked at me and said (it) like it was a matter of fact. He said, ‘Well, you know that Khloé’s not really a Kardashian, don’t you?’ And I said … ‘OK,’ and that was it.”
From that point on, the public ran “wild” with the rumor that Simpson was Khloe Kardashian’s real father, Us Weekly said. The rumor persisted even though Simpson and Khloe Kardashian denied it.
Khloe Kardashian, left, sits with her sister Kim Kardashian, center, and her mother Kris Jenner as they watch the Los Angeles Clippers play the Dallas Mavericks in their NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Khloe Kardashian even addressed the rumor during a 2012 episode of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” which was aptly titled “Who’s Your Daddy,” according to Us Weekly.
The episode showed Kris Jenner visiting Khloe Kardashian in Texas, where she was living with then-husband Lamar Odom at the time.
“I know all the rumors are absolutely ridiculous,” Jenner said, while trying to convince her daughter to take a DNA test. “But I know this is something she needs in order to feel complete.”
Jenner managed to convince her other children, Kim, Kourtney and Rob, to take DNA tests as a comparison. Khloé Kardashian, however, declined.
“Mom, I don’t care what they’re saying,” Khloé Kardashian said on the show. “Seriously, my dad is Robert Kardashian. My other dad is (Caitlyn) Jenner. I don’t need someone to tell me who my family is. I have had the blessing of having two phenomenal fathers. I don’t need a DNA test to prove who my father is.”
Khloe Kardashian was referring to Caitlyn Jenner, who became her stepparent after the former Olympian married Kris Jenner in 1991. Kris and Caitlyn Jenner divorced in 2015.
Aside from Khloe Kardashian still having to deal with the Simpson paternity rumor with news of his death, Robert Kardashian’s friendship with Simpson has had other lasting consequences on the family — and on America — for better, and many would say, for worse.
It could be said that America first got acquainted with the reality TV show family through Robert Kardashian’s participation in Simpson’s legal “Dream Team,” when Simpson was tried for the 1994 murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
Before the murders Kris Jenner and her children remained a presence in Simpson’s life, largely because she had become close friends with Nicole Brown Simpson. In fact, Jenner, her then-spouse, Caitlyn Jenner, and her children vacationed with O.J. and Nicole Brown Simpson and their children in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, a couple months before the murder.
A throwback photo of the luxury spring-break getaway in 1994 was resurfaced Thursday and circulating on social media. According to The Sun, the photo shows the two families posing on a patio, with a beach in the background. The photo shows a young Khloe, Kim and Kourtney Kardashian, in swimsuits, smiling happily, while Kris and Caitlyn Jenner and O.J. and Nicole Brown Simpson stand in the background. Also in the photo of O.J. and Nicole Simpson’s children, Justin and Sydney, who were preteens at the time.