Denise Brown on the loss of her sister Nicole Brown Simpson and her lifelong fight against domestic abuse

Hello and welcome to season 23 (!) of The Shift podcast, and this first episode is very close to my heart. Domestic abuse is something I have spent a lot of my adult life campaigning about, so I could not be more honoured that today’s guest is Denise Brown, older sister of Nicole Brown Simpson who was killed by her husband, American footballer OJ Simpson, on 13 June 1994, at the age of 35. 

And that is the last time we will say his name during this episode because this conversation is not about him. It is about her, Nicole. A woman who did not get to live over half of her life. Who did not get to see her children grow up, did not meet her grandchildren, did not get to age or moan about wrinkles or the irritations of life after 40…

And sadly - enragingly - Nicole is far from alone. In the UK, one in four women will experience intimate partner abuse in their lifetime. In the US that number rises to one in three.

That’s something Denise Brown is determined to do something about. In the three decades since her sister’s murder, Denise has devoted herself to raising awareness of intimate partner abuse, touring the United States, speaking at shelters, fundraising and working to change the law.

Now, she has written a book, For My Sister Nicole: Love Shouldn’t Hurt – What to Know About Domestic Violence⁠. A powerful, heartbreaking must read, it is also packed with resources to help recognise and tackle abuse. Her hope is that it will help save lives like her sister’s.

Denise joined me from a hotel room in Manhattan, where she is currently on tour, to talk about the loss of Nicole, her lifelong mission to change the way we view intimate partner abuse, why relationship abuse doesn’t just affect younger women and how it feels to reach 69 without her sister.

In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org.

* You can buy all the books mentioned in this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Shift bookshop on Bookshop.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, including For My Sister Nicole: Love Shouldn’t Hurt – What to Know About Domestic Violence, by Denise Brown, as well as the book that inspired this podcast, ⁠The Shift: how I lost and found myself after 40 - and you can too⁠, by Sam Baker.

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