In an exclusive interview with In Touch, Perrulli, 65, who dated Nicole after her divorce from O.J., recalls what Jenner told him.
“Kris alluded to the fact that O.J. and Nicole had a very tumultuous relationship,” Perrulli tells In Touch. “That always stuck with me. Once Nicole and I fell in love, I often wondered if my presence wasn’t amplifying the tumult between them, especially as their divorce proceedings became more and more contentious.”
Perrulli, who recently published his memoir, The Forgotten Briefcase, which features details on his relationship with Nicole, says he became close with Jenner, 70, and her family during that time and reveals it was actually the Kardashians star who encouraged the romance.
“I loved Kris, as well as her children. We were close back then,” he continues. “In fact, it was Kris who reintroduced me to Nicole in 1992, sensing we would be a good match. Had it not been for O.J.’s menacing presence, Kris’s matchmaking instincts were spot on.”
Joseph Perrulli
Nicole and O.J. divorced in 1992 after seven years of marriage and shared children, Sydney, now 40, and Justin, now 37. On June 12, 1994, Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman were fatally stabbed outside her Brentwood, California, home.
O.J., who died in 2024 at the age of 76, was acquitted of the murders in his 1995 criminal trial, but he was later found liable for the wrongful deaths in a civil trial two years later.
More than three decades after Nicole’s death, Perrulli says he and Jenner have remained in contact. He recently reached out to let her know he still has pictures of her kids that he thought she might like to have.
“I just recently sent her a text reminding her that there are some photographs of her children in the photo album Nicole had left me that should go to her,” Perrulli explains.
Perrulli adds that he recently learned that Jenner’s mom, Mary Jo “MJ” Shannon, had died on July 16, and he says he reached out again to offer his condolences.