Aaren Lashone Simpson was the youngest daughter of former NFL running back O.J. Simpson and his first wife, Marguerite Whitley.
She died in 1979 at 23 months old following a drowning accident in her family’s backyard pool.
It was one of the deepest personal tragedies in O.J. Simpson’s life, occurring years before he became known internationally for his murder trial.
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Aaren Simpson Biography
She was born on September 24, 1977, in Los Angeles, California, as the third and youngest child of O.J. Simpson and Marguerite Whitley.
Aaren Lashone Simpson’s parents had married young in 1967, when O.J. was just 19 years old and still a student at the University of San Francisco.
Aaren had two older siblings: her sister, Arnelle, born in 1968, and her brother, Jason, born in 1970.
She was born during a high point in her father’s football career, shortly after his trade from the Buffalo Bills to the San Francisco 49ers, which brought the family back to California.
Little detailed information about Aaren’s short life has been publicly documented, consistent with her family’s generally private approach to their children’s lives.
Family
O.J. Simpson and Marguerite Whitley had known each other since high school, where Marguerite had previously dated O.J.’s close friend, A.C. Cowlings.
O.J. and Marguerite married in 1967 and went on to have three children together over the following decade.
By the time Aaren was born in 1977, the marriage had already experienced periods of separation, and the couple officially divorced in 1979, the same year Aaren died.
Public reports from that period did not include allegations of violence or domestic abuse between O.J. and Marguerite during their marriage.
Following the divorce, O.J. Simpson married Nicole Brown in 1985, and the couple had two children, Sydney and Justin. Marguerite Whitley also remarried in the years that followed.
Aaren Simpson’s Death
In August 1979, just weeks before her second birthday, Aaren Simpson was found unresponsive after falling into the swimming pool at her family’s home in Los Angeles.
Paramedics were able to revive her sufficiently to transport her to UCLA Medical Center, where she was placed on life support after slipping into a coma.
Despite medical efforts, she did not recover and died on August 26, 1979. Her cause of death was recorded as respiratory failure.
Aaren was laid to rest at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California, following a small private memorial service attended by close family and friends.
O.J. Simpson rarely spoke publicly about his daughter’s death in the decades that followed, and the circumstances surrounding the accident beyond what was reported at the time have remained largely private, reflecting what was, at its core, a family’s personal grief.
Aaren’s death remains a significant and sobering reminder of the dangers of drowning for young children, which continues to be one of the leading causes of accidental death among children under the age of five in the United States.
Public health guidance continues to emphasize constant supervision around water and secure, self latching pool fencing as key measures for preventing similar tragedies.
OJ Simpson
O.J. Simpson went on to become one of the most recognizable and controversial figures in American public life.
In 1995, he was acquitted of the murders of his second wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, in a trial that drew unprecedented national attention.
In an unrelated case, Simpson was convicted in 2008 of armed robbery and kidnapping in Las Vegas and was sentenced to 9 to 33 years in prison.
He was released on parole in 2017 after serving approximately nine years. O.J. Simpson died on April 10, 2024, at the age of 76 following a battle with metastatic prostate cancer. He was survived by his four living children: Arnelle, Jason, Sydney, and Justin.
Aaren Simpson’s brief life and tragic death have remained a consistent and somber part of retrospectives on Simpson’s life, remembered by those who knew him as one of the greatest personal sorrows he carried.
