by Sean Smith
The journey back to Encino took no more than 30 minutes. The new house was on Mandalay Drive, in a very quiet neighbourhood with manicured lawns and his and her luxury limousines in the driveway. While it didn’t have the extreme privacy of a gated community, the residents kept to themselves and tended to live in the same house for many years. It was very comfortable, but you were only likely to speak to your neighbours if you met them while you were collecting your letters from the mailbox.
Robert suggested that Kourtney and Kim might like to spend more time at his house, as the peaceful surroundings might be better suited to the serious study he wanted for his daughters. Kourtney was particularly keen, as she was still reluctant to accept Bruce. Kim wanted to stay close to her sister, and both girls enjoyed Denice’s company.
The new house was just a short 10-minute drive from Uncle O. J.’s mansion in Brentwood, but Robert had seen his old friend only twice in two years. O. J. put in an appearance at a surprise fiftieth birthday that Denice had thrown for Robert in February 1994, and gave him an autographed football jersey. They also bumped into each other by accident in Palisades Park in Santa Monica in May, when they were both playing with their children. Robert was throwing a baseball with his son, while O. J. was helping his daughter Sydney practice her basketball skills. The two children knew each other well and were happy to pass the time together while the two men chatted on the grass about their troubles with women.
Their mutual business interests had dwindled, mainly through lack of success. In the 1980s, O. J. had joined Robert in a venture called Concert Cinema, which screened music videos in cinemas before the main feature. It was early days for MTV, but demonstrated how Robert thought ahead. In this case, what was clearly a good idea proved too expensive to run, and after a year they closed the business without making a profit.
The blossoming friendship between Kris and Nicole had made it difficult for the two men to remain buddies. O. J. and Nicole had struggled with marital problems, which culminated in their divorce in 1992, after seven years of marriage and two children together. Nobody knew that their strife included domestic violence.
Since his divorce from Kris, Robert’s social circle had inevitably changed. O. J. was more likely to bump into Bruce Jenner on the celebrity circuit, although, as a football hero and movie star, O. J. was still far more famous than the former Olympic champion. Surprisingly, Robert didn’t even know that Nicole was living in a condo in Bundy Drive, Brentwood.
The morning of 13 June 1994 started like any other for Robert Kardashian. As he always did, he said his prayers and then worked out for 30 minutes before starting work in his large office in the house. He no longer kept any business premises. Just after 10 a.m., the phone rang. It was Shelli Azoff, buzzing with the story that Nicole had been killed. She had just found out about it at the hairdresser’s, so the whole world, except Robert, had heard the bombshell news. He phoned Kris and discovered it was true. His ex-wife had been due to lunch with her friend that very day.
Without being asked, Robert rallied round his friend of 23 years. He invited O. J. to stay in his home to escape the media storm that inevitably exploded around the murder. It transpired that Nicole had suffered horrendous stabbing injuries, including one violent open wound that exposed the larynx and spinal chord. A local waiter and aspiring actor called Ron Goldman was also found dead outside the home on Bundy.
Four days after the murders, Robert had to stop his friend from killing himself, when he found O. J. in the bedroom with a gun. He told him, ‘You can’t. This is my daughter’s bedroom.’ Both Kourtney and Kim were staying in the house, but neither registered the magnitude of what was going on.
A warrant was issued for O. J.’s arrest and his chief lawyer, Robert Shapiro, was told his client needed to turn himself in at a police station. Shapiro had co-opted Robert on to the team, realising that Bobby, as O. J. still called him, had a special relationship with Simpson and would be useful to him. It also meant that they would now be protected by attorney–client privilege. Robert would need to reactivate his law licence, which he had allowed to lapse.
He was still concerned that his friend was going to end his life after O. J. disappeared from his house when he was supposed to be leaving for the station. He had apparently made a run for it in a white Ford Bronco driven by his buddy Al Cowlings. It became the most famous and bizarre slow-speed car chase in history, as a flotilla of police vehicles, with more than 20 helicopters soaring overheard, followed them down Interstate 405 at 35 miles an hour. The police didn’t want to intercept the 4 x 4 because O. J., who was lying low on the back seat, reportedly had a gun and they wanted to avoid a violent end. Thousands lined the route and stood on overpasses to cheer him. Eventually, after 90 minutes, he gave himself up outside his Rockingham home. Millions watched on television, mesmerized by what they were seeing. It was described by one lawyer as ‘the day Los Angeles stopped’.
Meanwhile, Robert was in front of the TV cameras for the very first time, reading a handwritten document that O. J. had left at the house. It was his suicide note to the world. Robert, in his steady deep voice, read the letter in front of more than 100 members of the media: ‘. . . Don’t feel sorry for me. I’ve had a great life, made great friends. Please think of the real O. J. and not this lost person. Thank you for making my life special . . .’
This was the exact moment when life changed for the Kardashians. Now the media were shouting out and asking Robert how he spelled his surname. They mostly got it wrong. Kim and her siblings became the children of the famous lawyer Robert Kardashian. He would sit beside O. J. Simpson throughout the ‘trial of the century’. O. J.’s confidante and erstwhile manager, Norman Pardo, observed drily, ‘The Kardashians would be nothing without O. J. Simpson.’
6
NEVERLAND
Incredibly, 10 weeks after the grisly killing of Nicole Brown Simpson, Kim’s life was rocked by another violent murder, which affected her just as deeply at the time.
All the Kardashian children grew up with the music of Michael Jackson blaring out from the sound system at the parties and barbecues their parents had. Robert Kardashian liked doo-wop, but this failed to impress his offspring. Kim enjoyed the music of all the Jacksons, but Janet Jackson was definitely her favourite in her youth. It was the next generation of the famous family with whom she came into contact, however, simply by moving in the same circles in Beverly Hills.
Kim was 13 when she started dating T. J. Jackson, the youngest son of Tito Jackson. The initials stand for Tito Joe, after his father and grandfather. They had met first of all at the Buckley School, but kept bumping into each other at parties. He was two years older than Kim, but she was a precocious young teenager.
T. J.’s father was the third oldest of the 10 Jackson children. When he was 18, he married Delores ‘Dee Dee’ Martes. She had been born in New York City to Dominican parents, but as a girl moved to LA, where she met Tito at Fairfax High School in West Hollywood. They married at the height of the Jackson 5 success in 1972 and had three sons, Taj, Taryll and T. J.
Despite the family’s enormous wealth and fame, Dee Dee was determined that her three sons would have a normal childhood. Tito observed, ‘She saw what the Jacksons had to endure to be successful.’ All three boys attended the Buckley School, where they excelled more in sports than music. They were good looking and well liked. Their mother adored her sons, whom she called the three Ts. Even after their parents divorced in 1993, the family remained close. Despite their regular upbringing, the boys couldn’t wait to follow in their famous family’s footsteps.
Their Uncle Michael doted on his three nephews and was a frequent visitor, acting almost as a third parent and giving them advice about enjoying the best years of their lives. They witnessed him being besieged by fans after one concert. He turned to the boys and said, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ Of course they were. They called themselves, naturally enough, 3T and set about recording their debut album with their father as their manager. T.
J. had just turned 16. It was very exciting for Kim to have a boyfriend who was going to be a pop star.
On 27 August 1994, the brothers received an early morning call from the daughter of their mother’s new boyfriend, telling them she had been in an accident. They were about to head off to the studio, but instead they rushed to the hospital in Inglewood, where she had been taken, to discover that she was already dead. Dee Dee was 39.
Initially, it was assumed the death was accidental. The boyfriend, a businessman called Donald Bohana, told police that they had been swimming that night at his house in Ladera Heights. He had popped inside briefly and when he returned Dee Dee was at the bottom of the pool. Her sons were suspicious of this explanation, as they were well aware that their mother couldn’t swim and would never go near water.
Their misgivings proved entirely correct, when a coroner’s report found that the numerous cuts, scratches and bruises on her body suggested ‘blunt force traumatic injuries’ and a non-accidental ‘assisted drowning’. The Jackson family, unhappy with the lack of action from the district attorney’s office, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Bohana a year after the dreadful news.
The suit detailed 58 injuries Dee Dee had suffered, including fingernail gouges to her breasts. Tito explained, ‘It’s plain to see that it was more than a simple drowning. My sons came to me and said, “Dad, don’t let him get away with this.”’ The action speculated that there had been a row over money, in which Dee Dee had refused to help Bohana, who had massive debts and had filed for bankruptcy.
The lawsuit alleged that Bohana assaulted Jackson over a four-hour period and killed her by holding her head under water in the swimming pool. He then dialled 911 and told an emergency operator that someone had fallen into his pool.
The Jacksons would have to wait until 1997 for the case to come to criminal trial in the Los Angeles Superior Court. Bohana was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. Tito added, ‘She was just a well-caring mother, and these kids were actually robbed of something that nothing can bring back.’
For her part, Kim was a 13-year-old trying to cope with a grieving boyfriend and a father desperately trying to help Uncle O. J., who would soon be standing trial for the murder of one of her mother’s best friends, Auntie Nicole. It was a grim welcome to an adult world.
Dee Dee’s tragedy brought T. J. and Kim closer together. He was polite, respectful and softly spoken. Her parents liked him very much, although her father warned her about the perils of interracial dating, even in a place as broad-minded as Beverly Hills: ‘He explained to me that he’s had a lot of interracial friends, and it might not be the easiest relationship. He said I should prepare myself for people to say things to me.’
One of the perks of dating a member of the Jackson clan came when Kim celebrated her fourteenth birthday in October 1994. The party was held at Neverland, Michael Jackson’s famous 3,000-acre ranch near Santa Barbara, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles. Even though she was growing up as a privileged youngster in Beverly Hills, where birthdays and holidays were celebrated with no expense spared, this was something entirely different and totally thrilling. Michael Jackson’s indulgent folly was a children’s paradise – no wonder her friends were keen to join her. T. J. and his brothers were also there, while Kris and Bruce drove everyone and joined in the fun.
The amusement park was accessed from the main house by the Neverland Express, the ranch’s own bright red train. Michael called the steam engine Katherine after his mother. Kim and her friends rode on the Ferris wheel, a carousel, a wave-swinger, a super-slide and a host of roller-coasters. The private zoo contained giraffes and parrots, alpacas and elephants. It was Michael Jackson’s fantasy world made real. He had missed out on a proper childhood because of the demands of recording and touring when he was a small boy. He never enjoyed Christmas or birthdays the way ordinary children might. He explained, ‘I wanted to have a place that I could create everything I never had as a child.’
Kim loved it. She recalled, ‘When you drove up, there were baby elephants and chimpanzees in overalls, and there were all the rides. It was everything you can possibly imagine. The memories I have from that place will last for the rest of my life.’
Although she would meet Michael many times, he wasn’t at the party. He had spent a year dealing with an accusation of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy, so perhaps it might not have been the most tactful move to have played host at a fourteenth birthday party full of excited children.
He had married Lisa Marie Presley the previous June in what would prove to be a short-lived marriage. Ironically, they had been in negotiations to be the stars of the reality show Newlyweds, which was eventually made by Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson.
Neverland provided a perfect birthday party for Kim and one she still talks about: ‘It was just me and my friends. It was something I’ll never forget.’ Disappointingly, her father wasn’t there to enjoy it with her. Instead, he bought her a course of make-up lessons, which probably proved more worthwhile in the long run.
Great days like the Neverland excursion strengthened her blossoming relationship with T. J. Kim enjoyed being in a settled relationship, despite being so young. T. J. even moved in with Kris and Bruce for a short time, while he was coming to terms with what had happened.
After they had been going out for a year or so, she approached her mother to discuss birth control. She told Oprah Winfrey, ‘When I did want to have sex for the first time, I was almost 15.’ Kris, who was heavily pregnant with her fifth child, was supportive and understanding when Kim told her she was going to sleep with her boyfriend. Kim continued, ‘She was like, “This is what we’re going to do, we’re gonna put you on birth control” and she was really open and honest with me.’
T. J. has remained gallant about what happened between him and his girlfriend, thus ensuring he remains welcome in the Kardashian household. All he has said is: ‘We became extra close when my mom passed away. She dropped everything to be with me.’
3T eventually finished recording their first album, entitled Brotherhood, which proved to be a much bigger hit in Europe than in the US. It reached number 11 in the UK charts and a single from it, ‘Anything’, only just missed out on the top spot. They may not have been superstars, but Kim Kardashian, a high school teenager, was dating a member of a boy band. Her classmates were hugely envious.
From being a popular, if rather anonymous, girl at school, Kim was becoming far better known. Not only was she going out with one of the Jacksons, but her father was on television every single day when the trial of the century began on 24 January 1995. It transfixed a nation and caused a huge division within her family.
On the one hand, her mother was convinced of O. J.’s guilt and was happy to voice that opinion. Her father, meanwhile, was standing by his old friend. Kris observed how confused her children were because their parents were on different sides of ‘a crazy situation’.
The scale of public interest was enormous. While he was remanded in jail, O. J. was getting an estimated 3,500 letters of support a day. An estimated 95 million people had watched the notorious slow-motion car chase. The Washington Post reported, ‘No one as well known and celebrated as Simpson has ever been charged with such a crime in the history of this country.’
Centre stage was Robert Kardashian, described by the newspapers as O. J.’s ‘personal attorney’, who sat by his side in court every day. Even before the trial began, the news programmes would feature his regular visits to O. J. in jail. When Robert went to eat out at a fashionable Beverly Hills restaurant like Spago, the room went silent and everyone turned round to stare, as if Tom Cruise had just walked in. He was happy to chat to well-wishers and the curious. One night someone asked him what O. J.’s jail cell was like. ‘It’s a seven- by nine-foot cage,’ he replied.
Before the ordeal of the trial took hold, Kim’s father seemed in good spirits about the case. At one of his parties in Encino, he asked gue
sts if they wanted to see how O. J. slipped out of the house for the now famous drive. He nodded at Al Cowlings, who ambled out of the party, got into his white Ford Bronco and drove off.
Explaining to his children what was happening to Uncle O. J. was more problematic, especially as both Kris and Bruce openly discussed his guilt. He had to fall back on the old ‘innocent until proven guilty’ line. He was at least encouraged by his daughters wanting to write to the man with whom they had spent many happy days and holidays. Kim supported her father. She confirmed, ‘I definitely took my dad’s side. We just always thought my dad was the smartest person in the world, and he really believed in his friend.’
Robert, by all accounts, was aware of the business opportunities that might accrue from the notoriety of the case. He helped to secure a £1 million advance for O. J.’s book, I Want to Tell You, which was published three days after the trial began. O. J. ostensibly wrote the book for two reasons – financial benefit and a desire to respond to the 300,000 letters he had received since his arrest. He wrote, ‘I want to state unequivocally that I did not commit these horrible crimes. I loved Nicole. I could never do such a thing.’
He certainly needed the money. When he and Nicole divorced in 1992, he was earning $1 million a year. Now he faced ruin, whatever the trial verdict, and still had to pay $15,000 a day to his defence team. Only Robert was giving his services for free.
At least Kim’s father never had to give evidence at the trial, protected by attorney–client privilege. The prosecution had been desperate to question him about O. J.’s garment bag, which he was seen carrying on the day of the murders.
The Kardashians were as divided inside the courtroom as they were outside. Kim and Kourtney were caught in the middle of a difficult situation: ‘Kourtney and I would go to the trial with my dad and we’d sit on his side and I remember looking over and my mom was on the other side sitting next to Nicole’s parents, and it was so much tension.’ The girls were worried that their mom would be mad at them for sitting with their dad.
