The woman who allegedly saw OJ Simpson flee Nicole Brown’s condo after she was murdered has revealed how the moment took an emotional and physical toll on her life.
Speaking for the first time to DailyMailTV, Jill Shively, 56, says those few seconds cost her her job, health, and led her to believe she was an accomplice to murder.
Shively became a key witness in the murder investigation after she nearly collided with Simpson’s car on that fateful night.
But she was dropped from giving evidence at the trial after she sold her story to television show Hard Copy – which she has come to regret ever since.
Jill Shively, 56, has revealed how being a witness in the OJ Simpson trial took an emotional and physical toll on her life after she allegedly spotted him fleeing Nicole Brown’s apartment on June 12, 1994 (Above she is pictured at the intersection where she nearly collided with O.J)
Simpson led police on a slow chase down Interstate 405 in California for almost eight hours, and was watched by a 95million viewers, before the pair turned into Simpson’s Brentwood home and surrendered
In the ‘trial of the century’ OJ was acquitted of Nicole Brown’s murder. Shively says to this day, she feels like an ‘accomplice’
‘That 10 seconds or whatever it was at that intersection has affected my live in so many ways. It changed my life. I feel tainted by this case,’ she said.
‘To this day I feel like I’ve been an accomplice to murder. I lost my job. I didn’t have a job for two years. I later developed cancer.’
Shively, who was a 33-year-old single mother at the time, was rushing to the local market on the night of June 12, 1994 when a white Ford Bronco suddenly ran through a red light with no lights on and swerved onto the median.
The driver, she says, appeared angry and was shouting at drivers to move out of the way before she locked eyes with him.
Right away, she says, she knew it was OJ, having recognized him from the recent film ‘Naked Gun 33⅓.’
‘I had just recently seen Naked Gun 33⅓. I knew it was a football player. I had seen him in the village. The voice when he was yelling at the other driver to move, I knew right away it was OJ,’ she said.
‘We had to skid out of each other’s way. Another driver was blocking his way.’
Shively, however, was unaware of the crime that would soon rock the country had just been committed and initially believed the driver was drunk.
Pictured is Nicole Brown Simpson’s murder scene. Shively says she spotted OJ just blocks away from Brown’s condo
It was not until the next day that Shively learned what had happened just a few blocks away at Brown’s home, with her sighting now the crucial piece of evidence in the investigation
‘I thought OK, he’s just thinking he’s a celebrity. He can do whatever he wants. Celebrity entitlement. He probably thought, ‘I can do whatever I want,’ she said.
‘I was so upset that this entitled person thought they could… I thought they were drunk. Like why would you have your lights off?’
After she told her mother about the encounter, her mom urged her to go to the police with her story the following morning.
What followed was a media frenzy, which made her a national figure overnight.
Reporters had swarmed her door just one day after she spoke to authorities due to her name being leaked to the press.
Shively agreed to do an interview with Hard Copy, a now-defunct news television show, for $5,000.
‘I agreed to do the interview with Hard Copy because they came to me and said everyone is doing it. All the witnesses are doing it. They’re getting paid. You’re a witness. Witnesses get paid, and we want to do your story…and I said OK,’ she tells DailyMailTV.
Shively, who was a 33-year-old single mother at the time, agreed to do an interview with Hard Copy, which she has come to regret to this day
However, things soon fell apart, when Shively was painted as liar who was looking to make a quick buck off by selling false claims to the press.
The drama that ensued led Shively to regret her decision for the rest of her life as she says: ‘If I had known by talking to Hard Copy that it would’ve branded me as a liar or branded me in a negative light, I never would’ve done it.’
‘Five thousand dollars is not a lot of money. In hindsight, I think it’s blood money and I’m not proud of it at all. People ask me about that Hard Copy interview all the time and I hate it,’ she confessed.
Shively admits she still feels guilt towards the family of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman, the other victim in the murder case, because she feels she did not contribute ‘anything good.’
Shively says she feels guilt towards Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman’s (pictured) family, because she ‘contributed nothing good’
‘Nicole’s sister is Tayna Brown. I talk to Tanya. I’ve even apologized to her for letting her family down. I haven’t had the chance to tell the Goldmans that. I was just part of the frenzy of the case.’
Now Shively reveals she has ‘nightmares’ about the case that happen 23 years ago.
With Simpson’s parole approaching, Shively also says she fears for his release because she does not believe prison has changed him for the better.
‘I’m worried about him getting out. Of what he’ll do to other people, his anger, his ego,’ she said.
Shively has described the whole situation as a ‘cancer that doesn’t go away.’
‘[Those] few seconds that I was there at that intersection has made such a huge impact in my life in so many ways…losing my job, having to seek counseling, having to make peace with my mistake of selling my story, feeling like an accomplice, beating myself up for that, giving me cancer, making my heart race,’ she said.
‘When ever I hear OJ Simpson’s name, I get anxious. It makes my stomach nauseous. I feel sick to my stomach. I feel nervous. I feel nervous, on edge. For a long time I didn’t even drink orange juice. That’s how contaminated I felt by OJ’