Celebrity

Kato Kaelin Reveals Awkward Run-in With Kris Jenner Years After O.J. Simpson Trial

"Men Of West Hollywood" Premiere
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 20: Kato Kaelin attends "Men Of West Hollywood" Premiere at Sofitel Hotel Los Angeles on January 20, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Men of West Hollywood Premiere)

Kato Kaelin had an “awkward” run-in with Kris Jenner at the 2016 funeral for Alan Thicke. The radio and TV personality, who stepped into the spotlight as a witness in the O.J. Simpson murder case in 1995, revealed the funeral for the late Growing Pains actor was the first time he had seen Jenner, whose late husband was Robert Kardashian, a friend to Simpson who served on his defense team during the trial.

Kaelin revealed on the Hollywood Raw podcast with Dax Holt and Adam Glyn that while the encounter with Jenner may have been uncomfortable initially, “it turned out to be a very warm moment.” Kaelin explained, “So it was awkward because, well, first of all, it was at a funeral of someone we both knew, of Alan Thicke, and I haven’t seen her since the trial.” Kaelin said it wasn’t hard to discern Jenner’s feelings for him at the time. “You know, when someone looks at you, if they have a bad feeling or a good feeling, but it was all good,” he said.

Videos by PopCulture.com

Kaelin also revealed he still has the key to Simpson’s guest house and planned on auctioning it off soon after late TV legend Larry King turned down his offer. Kaelin said that after getting the key appraised, it is worth “$20,000 to start with” and that he keeps it “in a safety deposit box at a bank.”

Kaelin hasn’t shied away from discussing the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson over the years, sitting down with Barbara Walters for Barbara Walters Presents American Scandals in 2015 to reveal his true thoughts about the not guilty verdict handed down by the jury. “In my opinion, yes, I think he’s guilty,” Kaelin told Walters during the interview. “In hindsight of everything, like 20 years later, I think that O.J. Simpson is guilty.”

Kaelin told Walters that he remembered thinking the jury made a mistake when the verdict came back. “If I saw O.J. today, I would say, ‘O.J., did you do it?” Kaelin added at one point during the special. “I think he would say, ‘Absolutely not.’” He continued, “O.J. Simpson, he’s very much a character out of a Shakespeare play. Here’s a man who had everything and lost everything and became from adored athlete to pariah.”