Did Nicole Simpson & Marcus Allen Date?

This year has been all about reevaluating the story of O.J. Simpson, with the ESPN documentary O.J.: Made in America doing a deep dive into the many details of the star's life and relationship with his second wife, Nicole Brown Simpson. The second installment of the five-part series mentions the rumor that Nicole Brown Simpson dated Marcus Allen, a fellow former football player and close friend of Simpson. However, almost everyone involved in the rumor has claimed something different. And though there are conflicting reports about whether or not Brown Simpson and Allen had a romantic connection, there was absolutely a friendship between Allen and the couple.

CNN reported that during Simpson's wrongful death civil suit, Allen testified that Simpson asked him to lie on the stand and confirm that he did date Nicole — and that Simpson was completely fine with the relationship. CNN also reported that "Simpson had previously said that Allen confided to him that he had dated Nicole and had sex with her after the divorce. Simpson said the fact that he remained friends with Allen and even hosted his 1993 wedding at his Brentwood mansion showed that he was not a jealous ex-husband." However, in his testimony Allen denied this, claiming on the stand that he never had a relationship with Brown Simpson and even ended his friendship with Simpson over Simpson's alleged request to testify that there was a romantic relationship.

Allen was married at the time of the alleged affair, to Kathryn Edwards, recently of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills fame. Edwards, who according to People also denies that Allen and Brown Simpson ever had an affair, has since divorced Allen and remarried, but was still offended by the book Nicole Brown Simpson: The Private Diary of a Life Interrupted , written by occasional RHOBH cast member Faye Resnick. The two cast members even feuded about it on the series.

In excerpts from the book, Resnick claims that Brown Simpson and Allen did have an affair, and that Allen was a notorious womanizer — she even quotes Kris Jenner as allegedly saying, "Whatever you do, don't go out with Marcus Allen. He's the biggest womanizer in the world and don't forget he's engaged to Kathryn." But even with that advice, Resnick claims that didn't deter Brown Simpson. "Nicole admitted her affair with Marcus Allen. She quickly told O.J. that she'd only let him 'play' with her. She didn't admit to actual intercourse," Resnick claimed in her book. She also also claimed that Nicole once joked around when she "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.'"

But Resnick claims that Simpson's reaction to the alleged affair wasn't nonchalant, the way he allegedly wanted Allen to testify. She made the following claim in her book:

"Nicole told me O.J. threatened her, saying 'If you're ever with Marcus again, I'll... I don't know what I'll do, but it will be bad. I won't be able to control myself.' He wouldn't let it end. It held up the reconciliation attempt for months. At times we were worried that OJ might take revenge on Marcus by telling his fiancée Kathryn about the affair with Nicole.

That would have been a disaster, because Kathryn was a sweet woman who was well aware of Marcus' womanizing and might have felt she had to call off the wedding. OJ did not do that, but he did confront Marcus. No one knows exactly what was said, but it ended up with him swearing to OJ that he would never touch Nicole again. Marcus said it wouldn't be a problem anymore, because he was getting married."

Resnick's account hasn't been corroborated by anyone else and her book was called "T-R-A-S-H" by Brown Simpson's father, who also said it had "misinformation," according to the Los Angeles Times. Brown Simpson herself never spoke publicly about having a relationship with Allen, but that hasn't stopped others from making these claims after her death.