Secret journal confessions found under the sink give chilling evidence of OJ Simpson’s violent spiral before slayings

Published: 13:07 EDT, 10 October 2026 | Updated: 13:07 EDT, 10 October 2026

A shocking discovery found months after the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson upended everything Denise Brown thought she knew about her sister.

While the world saw Nicole as OJ Simpson’s former wife, to Denise she was the spunky little sister, a tenacious and vibrant woman who loved her family and enjoyed horseback riding and skiing. Born just two years apart, the two eldest in a family of four sisters, Denise and Nicole had been the best of friends since childhood.

Though Denise believed from the start that Simpson was responsible for Nicole’s 1994 murder for which he was ultimately acquitted, she had no idea the extent of the horrific abuse her sister had endured for nearly two decades at the hands of the former football player – that is, until she read her sister’s secret diaries.

While cleaning out Nicole’s condo just days after her death, Dominique, the third Brown sister, found their late sister’s diaries hidden under the kitchen sink. In the journals, which Denise has held onto and thought about for three decades, Nicole detailed horrific and violent instances of abuse from frequent beatings to being locked in a wine cellar for hours, at the hands of Simpson.

‘Reading these diaries, I didn’t understand why she didn’t say anything to us,’ Denise told the Daily Mail. ‘It was so heart-wrenching and horrible… we were there and all these things were happening behind closed doors.

‘Why didn’t she confide in me? We had confided in each other for years since we were young.’

Denise had seen instances of Simpson’s controlling, and, at times, violent behavior and had asked Nicole on more than one occasion why she was with him. But she had no idea that the abuse was so constant, that the stoic face Nicole put on around her family was all a front.

But in the years since the brutal murders of Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman, Denise has gained a deep understanding of what her sister went through and the reasons she tried to keep the dark details of her life a secret.

Denise Brown had seen instances of OJ Simpson’s controlling, and, at times, violent behavior and had asked her sister Nicole on more than one occasion why she was with him

Tanya, Dominique and Denise, pictured left to right, have been sharing warm memories of Nicole as they also advocate for victims of domestic violence

An advocate for victims of domestic abuse, Denise is also the author of a new memoir – For My Sister Nicole: Love Shouldn’t Hurt, which contains both treasured recollections of her sister and resources for victims of domestic violence and their loved ones.

Grappling with the horrific tragedy of Nicole’s death and the very public trial that was inescapable at the time, Denise took the diaries to Human Options, a local women’s shelter in Laguna Beach. It was there where she began learning about the cycle of domestic violence, how common it is and the different and often undetected forms it can take.

According to the World Health Organization, one in three women globally experience physical or sexual violence by a partner and many incidents go unreported, whether out of fear of retaliation, custody concerns or financial dependency.

To Denise, Nicole hardly fit the stereotype of what she believed a victim of domestic violence was – her sister was wealthy, famous and far from meek. Denise had even told a reporter in the days following her sister’s June 1994 death that she didn’t think her sister was ‘a battered woman.’

Denise has since learned how wrong she was. ‘I think a lot of people think that domestic violence is only physical, that if you don’t see a bruise, you’re not a victim of domestic violence,’ she said. ‘But mental, emotional and psychological abuse play a huge role – bruises go away, but this [other] abuse stays with you a lifetime.’

Her education kicked off a life-long commitment to advocating against domestic violence and abuse. Her work over the past 30 years has taken her to women’s shelters, colleges and hospitals across the US, where she shares what she’s learned about domestic abuse and how it fatally affected Nicole and devastated her family, hoping to have a hand in preventing similar outcomes.

Denise said: ‘I think that domestic violence and sexual assault education belongs in schools. Women, girls, boys, everybody needs to know what domestic violence and assault are about because this could happen to you, it could happen from anyone.’

The book, 32 years in the making, serves as the kind of guide Denise wishes she had had while her sister was silently struggling with abuse.

After reading Nicole’s diaries and doing advocacy work, Denise now knows her sister’s terrible truth

Denise believed from the start that Simpson was responsible for Nicole’s 1994 murder for which he was ultimately acquitted

Denise had even told a reporter in the days following her sister’s June 1994 death that she didn’t think her sister was ‘a battered woman’

‘I’ve educated myself and I felt like this was the right time to let people [know] I made mistakes in the past and I don’t want other people to make those mistakes,’ she said. ‘I said wrong things, like ‘You’ve got to leave’ or ‘What the hell are you doing with him? Get a divorce.’ Doing that is like trying to control their lives like the abusers are controlling their life…it can isolate them. There can be so much fear, especially if they’ve been beaten down, so it’s important to support them even if they go back.’

She notes that it often takes seven to 10 attempts before a victim will leave an abusive situation, so she encourages a steadfast approach and recommends abstaining from harsh criticism if they struggle to leave their abusive partner or spouse.

‘I wrote it for all the Nicoles out there, for everyone who needs help,’ she said. ‘I don’t want a family to go through what we went through – I hope that what this will do will save someone’s life and save somebody from going through a tragedy like we did.’

Working on the book was bittersweet for Denise, who felt her sister’s absence in her life even more keenly as she revisited their relationship.

‘It wasn’t an easy process because you have to go back and remember all the wonderful things and wonderful times,’ Denise said. ‘I think that was probably the hardest because she was murdered so young and lost out on so much life.’

Writing about their nightly chats as teenagers whispering about boys before bed, the summers they spent at Huntington Beach tanning and surfing, the months they spent together in Paris, Denise conjures a Nicole Brown Simpson that often gets lost in the conversation about her life and its tragic end. The person who is much more than the subject of a true crime series.

‘The public only knows her as the victim, or as the woman that was carried away on a gurney,’ she said. ‘They don’t really know who Nicole was.

‘She was a very outgoing and funny woman. She just loved life.

‘She was very spiritual and so giving – after she had her children, her whole life was all about the kids.’

‘She was very spiritual and so giving – after she had her children, her whole life was all about the kids,’ Denise said

In her new memoir, Denise conjures a vibrant, lively and loving Nicole Brown Simpson that often gets lost in the conversation about her life and its tragic end

Denise feels TV shows like the Oscar-winning documentary series OJ: Made in America and Ryan Murphy’s splashy limited series, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story don’t reflect who Nicole was since they primarily focus on the murder trial. She notes that none of the creators contacted their family before forging ahead with the shows.

‘Nobody ever reached out to us,’ she said. ‘I just thought, ‘Wow, they just don’t care about any of the reality.’ I didn’t watch them – for me, the trial is so saturated and overdone, and I don’t think there’s anything that could change my mind about it because I was sitting in that courtroom every day.’

Now, the story Denise is more interested in is putting an end to domestic violence. It’s an endeavor that she says is her late sister’s legacy, something that she believes her sister would also do if she was alive.

‘If she was here today, I hope she would turn to me and say, ‘I’m really proud of you, thank you for what you’re doing,’ she said. ‘I truly believe if the roles were reversed, she would be doing the exact same thing for me.’