As FX's The People v. O.J. Simpson continues to tell the story of the O.J. Simpson trial to a new generation of viewers, more and more of the minutia of the case comes to the forefront of the series. In an upcoming episode, the focus of the series shifts slightly to cover Faye Resnick, a friend of Nicole Brown Simpson who wrote one of the earliest "tell-all" books related to the case. However, "friend" is a tricky term here, because many of the details in Nicole Brown Simpson: The Private Diary of a Life Interrupted do not paint Brown Simpson in a very positive light. Faye Resnick's book, The Philadelphia Inquirer said upon its release, "has one unique lesson. It proves that it is possible for someone to be murdered twice in one year."
Though Resnick never ended up testifying in Simpson's criminal case, which found him not guilty of the murders, her book not only had an impact on the trial (jury selection was pushed back following its release), but on Simpson's image. After its release, Simpson referred to the book's contents as "crap" in an interview with CNN, and called Resnick "nobody's friend" for writing it. The Private Diary of a Life Interrupted certainly garnered a lot of attention and some of it might have to do with its more salacious quotes, such as the seven below.
"Nicole stopped suddenly, bent down and picked up a chunk of driftwood. She held it out in front of her and said, 'This is the size of Marcus Allen.'"
Well, that is certainly one way of describing a person. The context of this quote is also controversial, as in the book Resnick claimed that NFL player Marcus Allen was having an affair with Brown Simpson while he was engaged to Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kathryn Edwards. Both Allen and Edwards have denied that the affair occurred, according to People.
"[O.J. was] "blatantly urinating in my presence and cursing the mother of his children with a vengeance I'd never heard from anyone! I fled the ladies' room."
What? How? Why was Simpson supposedly in the ladies' room? Why would he relieve himself while yelling at someone? Isn't the bathroom supposed to be a safe space? What is supposed to be happening here?
"We called them the Starbucks boys"
This was allegedly Resnick and Brown Simpson's euphemism for younger men they sought to "do... the euphemism in our circle for a sexual encounter." Starbucks boys sounds like a lot of things, but it doesn't really sound like a group of people you would seek for intimate purposes, unless you have a very specific type.
"[There was a] groundless claim that Nicole and I had borrowed money from Colombian drug dealers to open a Starbucks coffee shop."
What is it with Resnick and Starbucks?
"They're almost as common as root canals - and a lot less painful. Almost every woman I know has had breast implants."
These are two totally different things, Resnick.
"At one point we were facing each other. Nic suddenly leaned over and started kissing me. My first reaction? It just felt so foreign. A woman was kissing me!"
Resnick recalls a particular evening with Brown Simpson that allegedly resulted in the two of them getting intimate. A hook-up with a friend, while not unusual, seems like an odd thing to publish in a book immediately after that friend's death.
"If she's with another man, I'll kill her. You tell her she'd better play her role and look like my wife."
This quote is one of many incriminating things that Resnick attributes to Simpson throughout the book, and her disdain for him is made clear on American Crime Story.
Resnick's book sheds a lot of light on her relationship with Brown Simpson, as well as Brown Simpson's relationship with her ex-husband, but was it the right kind of light? Many reviewers didn't think so, as Resnick seemed to focus mostly on her own Beverly Hills adventures with Brown Simpson. It's no wonder Nicole Brown Simpson: The Private Diary of a Life Interrupted made such a splash upon its release — it featured enough gossip to keep people talking for decades.
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