O.J. Simpson‘s condition worsened quickly in his final days, according to his estate executor and attorney, Malcom LaVergne. The lawyer has been vocal about the late ex-football star’s death and has provided insight into Simpson’s last moments in various interviews.
Per LaVergne, Simpson’s health rapidly declined right after Easter. “I went and saw him that Friday myself, and he could barely get any words out of his mouth,” the attorney told Us Weekly on Tuesday, April 16. “He could ask for water,” he added. “He could decide between whether he wanted to watch women’s tennis or golf. But he was just in bed. He was just resting comfortably.”
LaVergne also claimed that the doctor informed Simpson on April 5 that he was “not long for this world. It is finite,” even though Simpson “thought he had beaten” prostate cancer.
“He’s an older man, so treatments for cancer make you get sick in other ways,” the attorney further explained. “He got pneumonia and then he couldn’t do the experimental or trial stuff.”
As Simpson learned his health was deteriorating, he insisted, “I’m not going to die in a hospital. I don’t know what’s going on here, but I’ll take my chances at home.”
“People started flying in from all over, friends, families,” LaVergne added. When it came to Simpson’s children — Arnelle, Jason, Sydney, Justin and Aaren (who died when she was 1 years old from an accidental drowning) — they prefer to keep everything “private,” LaVergne emphasized.
“The family’s always been private. The kids have always been private,” he explained. “They’ve stayed private, and their feelings and mixed bag of emotions are really the exact same as anyone else who loses a loved one to a long-term illness.”
The lawyer also described how upbeat and healthy Simpson seemed just weeks before his death. Per the lawyer, he visited Simpson in March and saw the former athlete “sitting on his couch drinking his beer, eating good” and “didn’t seem like a man who was going to die to me soon.”
During a separate interview with the Associated Press, the attorney insisted that Simpson was “awake, alert and chilling” last month. He also noted that the Simpson family does not have a plan for a public memorial at the moment.
Simpson died on April 10, his children announced via X (formerly known as Twitter). He was 76 years old and had succumbed to his battle with prostate cancer. In the days to follow, LaVergne made headlines for making a controversial remark about Ron Goldman‘s family. Goldman was the friend of Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown, both of whom had been murdered in the 1990s. Though Simpson was acquitted for their murders, he was later found responsible for their deaths and allegedly still owes the Goldman family money.