by Sean Smith
Any good humour Robert may have brought to the saga soon left him as the days turned into months. One of the first casualties was his wedding plans with Denice. They were put on hold because of the demands of the case. Eventually, they split up. She has never spoken of the exact reasons, although she may well have been uneasy at the depth of his involvement in the trial and just wanted to get on with her life.
Instead, while Robert was at the Los Angeles courtroom every day of 1995, she set about reviving her late husband’s last project, the sequel to Gone in 60 Seconds. The new film, which had the hugely successful producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney on board, eventually came to screens in 2000 and starred Nicholas Cage, with Angelina Jolie in the role that Denice would have played. It turned into more of a remake than a sequel, but still it returned over £237 million at the box office.
The evening before the trial began, Robert drove over to his ex-wife’s house to give her a letter he had written to her and his children, in which he explained why he had made such an enormous commitment to Uncle O. J. She quoted the letter in full in her memoir.
Robert, clearly under enormous strain, recognised how the tragedy had invaded their privacy and that the division in the family was very sad. He said he valued his family above all else and that their lives were far more important than this one case. ‘My life will never be the same,’ he wrote emotionally.
Kris was expecting to give evidence about the domestic violence she knew about in the Simpson household. In the end, she wasn’t called, as the prosecution decided, probably wrongly, that it would have an adverse influence on the jury. She did talk to reporters, however, revealing that Nicole knew she was in danger long before she died.
Kris spent her entire pregnancy absorbed in the case, either watching it on television or attending in person with Bruce. Some of the aspects of the case will never be forgotten, including the bloody glove the prosecution made O. J. try on, only to discover it didn’t fit. ‘If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit,’ said his lead defender, the renowned black attorney Johnny Cochran, who introduced the alleged racism of the LAPD so skilfully into the defence arguments.
The world awaited the verdict on 3 October 1995. Robert and Johnny had been to visit O. J. in jail and they had prayed together. The jury spent less than four hours reaching its conclusion and, genuinely, nobody knew what might happen. They ruled ‘not guilty’ on both counts of murder.
Robert looked stunned and bewildered, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing; he didn’t even smile. O. J. slapped him on the back. Johnny Cochran was elated and slapped O. J. on the back. While the formalities were being concluded, Robert took off his glasses and wiped his eyes.
His children were at school. He had seen little of them during the last few months, as he was concerned for their safety at his house, which was receiving a great deal of public attention. He was incensed when someone scrawled ‘nigger-lover’ on his car. They had spent the time at Kris and Bruce’s house and Robert did his best to get there at weekends. Robert and Bruce would discuss the situation, keen for the family not to be torn apart.
When Kim, Kourtney and Khloé got home on the day of the verdict, Bruce, who had always believed O. J. to be guilty, was still watching it unfold on TV. He recalled, ‘They came in and said, “Ah, I told you he didn’t do it!”’ Bruce asked them to sit down while he explained something to them: ‘Look, just because he got a not guilty verdict doesn’t mean he didn’t do it and I just don’t want to hear his name any more.’
Robert never expressed any opinion about O. J.’s innocence until he was interviewed by Barbara Walters a year later and admitted he did have doubts: ‘The blood evidence is the biggest thorn in my side that causes me the greatest problems. So I struggle with the blood evidence.’
Robert helped the renowned writer Lawrence Schiller with his classic book American Tragedy, co-written by Time magazine reporter James Willwerth, which provided the inside story of the defence team during the trial. According to Dominick Dunne of Vanity Fair, he received a ‘substantial proportion’ of Schiller’s fee. There were also rumours that Robert was the source of many post-trial stories about O. J.
He had to piece his life back together. When Denice left, she had taken all the furniture and the television sets. They were hers to begin with, but the house was literally empty without her. She had only kind words to say about her former fiancé, however. ‘O. J. used Robert,’ she said. ‘Robert went over to the house on Rockingham as soon as he heard about the murders, like any friend would, and O. J. used him from then on. It’s been terrible for Robert. His friends have left him.’
Robert’s relationship with O. J. was never the same again. A friendship that could have lasted a lifetime vanished in 10 months inside a crowded courtroom. Schiller and Willwerth wrote, presumably with Robert’s blessing, that the doubts would never leave him. He also realised that for years his friend had kept his troubled life with Nicole from him. He had seen them have only one argument the whole time he had known them. He went to the victory party at Rockingham, but barely saw O. J. again after that.
The epic case wasn’t finished. A civil action was launched by the families of both victims against O. J. for the unlawful killing of Nicole and Ron Goldman. They won the case and were awarded $33.5 million in compensation and damages. This time, the events that took place over five months in a Santa Monica courthouse weren’t televised. Robert was required to give a deposition for the court, although what he was able to say was still heavily governed by attorney–client privilege. He was able to comment on Nicole for the first time: ‘She was kind. She was sweet. I loved Nicole. She was a fun person . . . She was a good wife and an excellent mother.’
The house on North Rockingham Drive, where O. J. had lived for 20 years, was sold for close to $4 million and was promptly demolished by the new owner, an investment banker. The former sports star moved to Miami to start a new life. In December 2008, he was found guilty of 12 felonies as a result of an armed robbery and kidnapping at a Las Vegas hotel-casino. He received a minimum sentence of nine years and a maximum of 27. Robert Kardashian wouldn’t live to see his friend sent down.
The murder trial never goes away. It is part of American history, a modern legend. Kim is asked about it at some point during most interviews. She has become adept at avoiding it, like a politician swerving an awkward question. She simply acknowledges that it was the ‘biggest struggle’ within her family apart from her parents’ divorce: ‘It’s the biggest separation my family’s had, so why even bring it up.’ She was asked about it yet again by Rolling Stone magazine in July 2015. ‘It’s weird,’ she said. ‘I try not to think about it.’
7
THE REAL WORLD
Having a steady boyfriend meant that Kim wasn’t prone to sneaking into unsuitable nightclubs as a teenager. While her more spirited friends may have been up for an adventure, Kimmy, as she was generally known, wasn’t a party girl during high school. She had a large social circle and they could usually be found hanging out at each other’s extremely nice houses.
She was happy with T. J., although she could have had her pick of the boys. She always had great sex appeal and was a very pretty girl – almost innocently so. The nanny, Pam Behan, remarked that she didn’t let the many compliments she received go to her head. She was never conceited about her looks. Pam observed, ‘She knows she is beautiful because everyone tells her she is beautiful. Yet she maintains her sweetness.’
Although unpleasant adult troubles intruded, in the form of her parents’ ugly divorce, the O. J. Simpson furore and the murder of her boyfriend’s mother, she was able to enjoy being a teenage girl without going off the rails. Her great friend Nikki Lund recalled, ‘We made little coffee cakes and painted our nails and talked about our next diet.’
The girls tried every diet going. They sampled the popular Atkins and South Beach Diets. They also took over the kitchen to cook up vast quantities of cabbage soup when that was the latest weight-
loss fad.
After Kim started dating, she became aware that all the popular girls around her seemed to be skinny and blonde. She was the anti-blonde – petite, buxom, bottom-heavy and bothered by the female Armenian characteristic of too much dark body hair. From the age of 13, Kim was a regular visitor to the beauty salon for her bikini wax.
Her schoolgirl hero wasn’t a string-bean runway model, but J.Lo, the shapely Hispanic actress and singer. From the mid-nineties onwards, Jennifer Lopez was in possession of the most photographed and appreciated bum in the world.
Like all teenagers, Kim had many favourites. As well as Jennifer Lopez and Janet Jackson, she followed leading R & B artists, including Babyface, Mary J. Blige and the vocal group Jodeci. She had a special affection for the Spice Girls, who brought ‘girl power’ to Marymount. She was 16 when they burst onto the music scene in the US with their breakthrough number one, ‘Wannabe’, in February 1997. That year, their debut album, Spice, was the world’s biggest seller.
Kim was an admirer of Victoria Beckham and her image as Posh Spice. One friend confided, ‘She liked the idea of being posh and she thought Victoria was the prettiest Spice Girl.’ Kim wore her hair then in a shortish bob like Posh and tried to do her make-up to imitate the well-known sultry pout.
Occasionally, her school would have an ‘off day’, when you could ditch the school uniform for a day and dress as you please. Kim and her friends would go as the Spice Girls. She had a short-sleeved leather dress with a slit up the side that mirrored the sort of outfit that the chic and fashionable Posh would wear. The girls would each be a different character and spend hours getting ready. They enjoyed dressing up and playing their parts more than the music, although it was good fun to practise ‘Wannabe’ or ‘Spice Up Your Life’ in front of the mirror. They were never brave enough to give a Stars in Their Eyes type of performance in public.
For her sixteenth birthday, Kim was given a new white BMW 318 saloon. It was a rite of passage for each of the sisters to be given a car on reaching the age when they could start driving. Their father would often produce contracts for his children to sign to ensure they understood the meaning of responsibility. While it was his way of having fun with his kids, it did have a serious purpose. The car contract was no exception.
Four days after her birthday, Robert produced the document. In it, he calls himself her ‘wonderful and kind’ father. Kimberly, as she was referred to, had to agree to drive her younger sister and brother to their activities, run errands for her dad, not talk back to her mother or father, ensure that she maintained a good grade average at Marymount, not take drugs, smoke cigarettes or marijuana or get drunk.
She was one of the few girls at her school who didn’t have a credit card for her personal use. For her car, however, her father provided her with a gas-only one for Standard Oil, so she could fill up with petrol whenever she needed it. It was in the contract that she had to keep up the payments on the card. She also had to agree to wash the car once a week. Last, but by no means least, she was responsible for all repairs. She explained, ‘If I crashed it, I had to be responsible for paying for it.’
The contract was more an indication of her father’s affection than anything else. He even states in paragraph seven of the agreement that ‘your dad loves you very much’. It was something lovely and precious between a father and his daughter. Kim, who pranged the car almost immediately, didn’t see it that way.
She was crawling along in bumper-to-bumper traffic, when she dropped her lipstick, reached down to pick it up and rear-ended the car in front. She recalled, ‘I tapped someone. It was so not a big deal, but I had to pay for it.’ It didn’t help that the driver of the other vehicle saw the name Kardashian on her documents and realised she must be the daughter of O. J. Simpson’s lawyer. ‘They sued me for a lot of money.’
As a result of the mishap, Kim needed to find a Saturday job to help pay for things. She was strolling through the centre of Encino on a day off from school, when she saw that a local boutique called Body was looking for a part-time shop assistant. ‘It was the coolest clothing store in the Valley,’ recalled Kim proudly. She loved being around the latest fashions and would often go to the store after school to work for an extra hour or two before heading back to her father’s house.
In pre-mobile phone days, all the schoolchildren had beepers with different coloured cases that would clip onto a belt or a bag. A beeper was a pager that they would carry to keep in touch with their parents or, more usually, their friends. Kim would change her colour every weekend. She was keen to make small fashion statements even then, and would disappear to her room to devise different coloured headbands. She used fish wire to sew on flowers and made sure they matched her eyeliner and the colour of the top she was wearing. Her parent’s entrepreneurial character rubbed off on her, because, as well as wearing the accessories herself, she would hawk them round little boutiques in Hollywood, trying to sell some for a few dollars. Her job meant she was in retail; her little sideline was her start in business.
Kourtney had moved into her dad’s full time, because the quiet atmosphere there was much more conducive to studying, which she needed to do to realise her ambition of going to university. Kim didn’t harbour such aspirations, preferring to spend her evenings talking for hours on the phone to her friends rather than with her nose in a schoolbook. She was happy to stay over at her dad’s to keep her sister company, especially as life at Kris and Bruce’s house had become chaotic with the arrival of their baby half-sisters.
Kris had given birth to their first child, Kendall, on 3 November 1995. They gave her the second name of Nicole to honour the memory of Nicole Brown Simpson. Yet another daughter, Kylie Kristen Jenner, was born on 10 August 1997. It was all a bit much for the two older girls.
Staying at Robert’s became even more practical when Kris and Bruce decided they needed to move from the house in Benedict Canyon, because it was too small for their growing family. They were still renting, and Kris was determined that they should have a place of own. They found their next house purely by chance. She had been invited to lunch by a friend who lived in Hidden Hills in Calabasas, which, in Beverly Hills terms, was the sticks. Kris didn’t even know how to get there, other than it was a long drive out on the Ventura Freeway. Once there, of course, she fell in love with its tranquillity and privacy. She talked Bruce round with the promise that he would still be able to play golf. Together they found a house that required a lot of work, but it was the start of her family’s love affair with the little-known community.
Thanks to the impetus Kris gave him, Bruce’s career was again moving forward. To a large extent, Robert Kardashian hadn’t needed Kris in his working life. He had been content for her to raise his children in a traditional family unit. Bruce and Kris worked as a team. As well as overseeing the proper marketing of his motivational speech, ‘Finding the Champion Within’, they produced an infomercial for a line of stair-climbers and a keep-fit video, which showed Bruce coaching Kris. Their business prospects hadn’t been harmed by her involvement in the O. J. Simpson trial, although that was the last thing on their minds at the time.
Kim wasn’t half-hearted about working out. For her, any pain was always worth it. She enthusiastically joined in the craze for Tae-Bo that swept through her circle of friends. They all had the video on how best to perform the aerobic exercise and would work out at each other’s spacious homes. The name Tae-Bo is a blend of taekwondo and boxing. It’s a sort of martial arts dancing and great fun to do, as well as good exercise.
Kim, like many teenagers, was swayed by what was ‘in’ and popular at school. They all watched Melrose Place so they could talk about it the next day. The popular prime-time soap followed the lives of young men and women living in an apartment complex in West Hollywood. It was the follow-on series from the hugely popular Beverly Hills, 90210, another Aaron Spelling-produced programme. Coincidentally, Kim was actually at El Rodeo School, which has a 90210 postcode, when that show aire
d.
Even though she was only 11 when it finished, she also liked The Golden Girls, which she watched as reruns. Another favourite sitcom was Growing Pains, which featured a teenage Leonardo DiCaprio in an early role. It was the story of a family of two parents and four children and followed the dramas of their everyday lives.
The most inspiring film for Kim was the cult success Clueless, because she loved the fashions and decided she was going to be the main character, Cher Horowitz, played by Alicia Silverstone. ‘I literally had at least 10 of the outfits Cher had,’ she confessed. In the film, the heroine is a rich and privileged girl living in a Beverly Hills mansion, like Kim was, and her father is a lawyer.
The show that had by far the most significant influence on Kim began broadcasting on MTV in 1992. It was called The Real World and is widely acknowledged to be the model for the modern reality shows that followed, including Keeping Up with the Kardashians. It is no surprise to learn that the production company Bunim/Murray is responsible for both programmes. They also produced The Simple Life, with Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie.
In the show, a group of seven or eight young adults are selected to share a house and interact – or, more precisely, fall out – with each other. It’s a simple formula that has worked well over the years, from Big Brother to the Kardashian blockbuster. It has always been hugely popular with a teenage audience in the US. Its themes include plenty of dysfunctional behaviour, addiction, drunkenness, eating disorders, sexuality, racism, politics, religion and, of course, an on-screen wedding or two – all the ingredients of classic reality television are here. Kim loved it.
Jonathan Murray explained the thinking behind the ground-breaking show: ‘We’ve always been interested in what the people across the street were doing. We’re gossips. So, at the very beginning of Real World, it was like being a fly on the wall watching these people lead their lives.’
