this is "nightline." >> tonight, it was the trial of the century. >> o.j. simpson not guilty of the crime of murder. >> accused but never convicted of murdering his beautiful wife nicole and her friend ron goldman. but after he was found not guilty o.j. was forced to answer these questions. >> you ever hurt her? >> yes. >> you ever physically hurt her? >> yes. >> the details tonight. he's hot on instagram. over 1 million followers fawn over every shot of bronco hearn flaunting his assets. can he turn online fame into offline fortune? tonight a mission to become a star and we're there for his first audition. and pope on parade.

the holy father wowing the crowds on an action-packed new york city visit. but first the "nightline 5." >> think your heartburn pill works fast? take the zantac it challenge. nexium can take 24 hours. when heartburn strikes take zantac for faster relief than nexium or your money back. it's macy's super saturday sale. save 50% to 75% store wide. plus get an extra 20% off with your macy's card or wow savings past. text tv 62279

good evening. thanks for joining us. it was the verdict that stunned the nation. o.j. simpson not guilty of killing his ex-wife and her

friend. even though he never testified. tonight you will hear from simpson when he was forced to answer questions about what happened that night. you'll also hear from one of his closest friends at the time, kris jenner, and those who swore to bring him to some kind of justice. here's 20/20 anchor elizabeth vargas. >> attempt to locate 187 suspect, last name of simpson. >> reporter: the iconic image broadcast to 95 million people across every television network. >> down there on the ground is a white ford bronco. >> reporter: dozens of police cars in pursuit. o.j. simpson in the back seat. five days earlier, o.j.'s ex-wife nicole simpson and her friend ron goldman were found brutally murdered. nicole's throat slashed, nearly decapitated. ron goldman stabbed more than 20 times. families ripped apart. >> and there was a white sheet over nicole. and all i remember is my mom saying, that's my kid.

>> devastating. he was always a good kid. he was fun, he had a good sense of humor. >> reporter: football hall of famer o.j. simpson tried for their murder in what was called the trial of the century. >> if it doesn't fit, you must acquit. >> reporter: and the verdict heard around the world. >> orenthal james simpson not guilty of the crime of murder. >> reporter: but that ruling was not the end of the saga. >> you do solemnly swear -- >> reporter: o.j. simpson would later be forced to testify bit victims' families. in these deposition tapes from the civil trial o.j. simpson is forced to answer the pivotal questions he did not answer in the criminal trial. >> you ever strike her? >> no. >> you ever hurt her? >> yes. >> you ever physically hurt her? >> yes. >> reporter: it's part of two new documentaries airing on a&e and lmn next week. the author and filmmaker had unprecedented access to o.j. through robert kardashian. >> robert said, i got to play you a tape.

>> reporter: robert shared this audio recording simpson made at kardashian's house just hours before the infamous bronco chase. >> let me play you a little bit of it. he was recording this almost like a suicide tape. >> oh, boy. i don't know how i ended up here. please remember me as the juice. please remember me as a good guy. don't remember me as one of the negatives that might end up here. >> that's what o.j. intended to be his final words. >> please remember me as the juice. >> reporter: moments after making that tape the jules was discovered by robert kardashian who described what happened next in an audiotaped interview. >> he was sitting there with a gun and his pictures of his kids and of nicole. and then o.j. said, i'm going to kill myself in this room. and i said, you can't. i said, this is my daughter's bedroom. >> he first wanted to kill himself in kim kardashian's bedroom? >> right, kimmie's bedroom.

>> i can't have my little girl in this bedroom and every time i come in here i'm going to see your body laying in this. >> reporter: o.j.'s desperation culminated in that bronco chase later that day. >> the number three lane. approximately 30 miles an hour. >> reporter: his friend a.c. cowlings behind the wheel. >> this is a.c., i have o.j. in the car. he's still alive but he's got a gun to his head. >> reporter: a los angeles police detective tries to get simpson to turn himself in. >> throw the gun out the window, please, you're scaring everybody. >> i can't take this. >> yes, you can, don't do this. >> all i did was love nicole. all sdid wi did was love her. >> what we have is a suicidal man, o.j. simpson. >> i had no idea at that time what was going on. >> reporter: kris jenner, ex-wife of robert kardashian, was close to both o.j. and nicole. >> it definitely sealed in everyone's mind who was watching that there's a possibility that, you know, this guy's going to

kill himself. and he probably did it. >> reporter: finally the bronco returns to o.j.'s estate. a.c. cowlings, still in the car, desperately pleading with o.j. not to kill himself. >> don't do it, listeno t me, his sen to me, o.j. no, no. >> reporter: eventually o.j. simpson relents and police take him into custody, arresting him on murder charges. >> the results of the analysis of that blood confirms orenthal james simpson took her very life. >> reporter: the criminal trial that followed riveted the nation. the prosecution trying to portray o.j. as an abusive husband and introducing into evidence harrowing 911 calls from nicole. >> 911 emergency. >> could you get someone over here now to 325 gretna green? he's back. >> what does he look like? >> he's o.j. simpson. i think you know his record. could you just send somebody over here? [ bleep ] nuts. >> just stay on the line -- >> i don't want to stay on the line, he's going to beat the [ bleep ] out of me -- >> wait a minute, wait a

minute -- >> her voice pleading for somebody to come to the house, that was so shocking to me because i had never heard that before. >> reporter: suddenly the warnings nicole had given to friends like kris jenner began to make sense. >> the one thing she would tell all of us by the time it got to that level was, he's going to kill me. and he's going to get away with it. >> reporter: but there is an avalanche of forensic evidence connecting simpson to the crime scene. his blood and dna are all at the murder scene. along with a size 12 shoe print. o.j.'s size. in his bronco, blood consistent with ron and nicole's blood. in his bedroom, a pair of socks with nicole's blood. >> every piece of evidence pointed to o.j. there was no identifiable other suspects. except for o.j. >> reporter: robert kardashian, part of simpson's legal dream team, was next to his friend nearly the entire trial. >> i asked robert several times, what are you doing?

i think that he wanted to believe in o.j.'s innocence so badly. >> reporter: the defense shifted the focus to the los angeles police department. >> mark fur man -- >> reporter: their strategy, accuse the police of framing simpson by mishandling and even planting evidence. but perhaps the defense's biggest win is the prosecution's biggest blunder. they ask him to try on the bloody glove found at the scene of the crime. nearly everyone knows what happens next. >> having a problem putting the glove on his hand. >> reporter: that bloody glove becomes a rhyming rallying cry for the defense. >> if it doesn't fit, you must acquit. >> orenthal james simpson not guilty of the crime of murder -- >> o.j. is innocent! >> reporter: take a look at this video of an impromptu celebration at simpson's house. >> finally home! >> reporter: a jubilant simpson rejoicing at his acquittal.

>> yes! >> reporter: kris jenner remembers watching her ex-husband robert kardashian's face as the verdict was announced. >> i think he was shocked. he was definitely stunned. i mean, you could look at his face and see it. >> reporter: after the trial, robert kardashian would distance himself from o.j. eight years later, while dying of cancer, he would not take o.j.'s phone call. >> o.j. did try to reach out and call him. but robert didn't take the call. >> reporter: meanwhile, fred goldman, ron's father, and kim goldman, ron's sister, plot their second chance at justice. a wrongful death lawsuit in civil court. >> in the criminal case, you can say, i am not going to testify. in a civil case, you don't have that right. and that made the civil case totally different. >> that was going to be the moment of truth. to put simpson under oath and examine him. >> reporter: coming up, those bloody shoe prints come back to haunt him. >> appears to be me, yes.

>> reporter: the shocking moment o.j. appears to be caught in a lie. stay with us. but i couldn't do it on my own. i needed help and chantix was there. and i did it. along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. some had seizures while taking chantix. if you have any of these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of mental health problems, which could get worse or of seizures. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if have these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away as some can be life-threatening. tell your doctor if you have heart or blood vessel problems, or develop new or worse symptoms. get medical help right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack or stroke. decrease alcohol use while taking chantix. use caution when driving or operating machinery. most common side effect is nausea. i never thought i would be a non-smoker and i'm so proud.

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we're back with an inside look at the o.j. simpson double murder trial. he seemed to resume his life triumphantly after escaping that conviction. but the victims' families were determined to make sure the story would not end there. here again is 20/20 anchor elizabeth vargas. >> orenthal james simpson not guilty of the crime of murder -- >> reporter: in the months after acquittal o.j. simpson had gone back to his life in the limelight. the goldman family was determined to find justice. why the decision to pursue the civil case? >> i want a court of law to say that s.o.b. murdered my son. >> reporter: to prepare for the trial his lawyer spent 11 days grilling him in a pretrial deposition with a video camera. this is the first time o.j. simpson is questioned under oath about the murders of his ex-wife

nicole and ron goldman. >> what do you think people will think watching those tapes? >> the real him is a violent, lying, narcissistic monitor. when he first walked in it was, you know, frivolous kind of attitude. oh, just strutted in, making jokes. >> jokes? >> he never took any of it seriously. >> ha ha, sorry. >> reporter: dan petrocelli spent days hammering at o.j.'s tumult russ relationship with nicole, grilling him on the bruised and battered days. >> you caused scars on her face? >> that's incorrect. >> you cut her lip? >> that's incorrect. >> you don't think this picture reflects any bruising or injuries or marks on nicole's face? >> no, i don't. >> what do you think this reflects? >> i think it reflects doing a movie, doing makeup. >> really? he had so many explanations. it was almost unfathomable the things that would come out of his mouth. >> reporter: eventually simpson admits to hurting nicole but

won't say how. >> you never hurt your wife? >> i hurt my wife, yes. >> you never struck her? >> i never punched her. >> ever strike her? >> no. >> ever furt her? >> yes. >> ever physically hurt her? >> yes. any marks that's on her i take full responsibility for. i take total responsibility for it. >> why? >> i shouldn't have handled the situation the way i did. >> reporter: o.j. simpson may have admitted to being responsible for the bruises but he's vague. >> you had your fingers around her throat? >> i could have touched her neck, yes. >> what do you mean, could have touched her? this was violent episode? >> yes, it was. >> his mantra was, i take full responsibility, as though this was an apology made on some press tour or something. and he just was not going to admit the obvious. >> reporter: the killer of nicole simpson and ron goldman left a key piece of evidence at the scene of the crime -- a shoe print stamped in the victims' blood. >> it was a size 12 shoe. >> simpson's size?

>> reporter: prosecutors in the criminal trial were never able to prove simpson owned those shoes. petrocelli questions him during the deposition. >> bruno magli makes shoes that look like the shoes involved in court, i would never have worn those ugly [ bleep ] shoes. >> reporter: then months later a photograph emerges, o.j. simpson wearing bruno magli shoes nine months before the murders. another round of questions. watch o.j.'s reaction. >> that is a picture of you looking at exhibit 1? >> appears to be me, yes. >> reporter: after 41 days the jury found simpson responsible and awarded the victims' families $33.5 million. >> how much have you managed to collect? >> zero from the judgment. he has never paid one single penny. >> reporter: for years, the goldmans seized anything simpson could sell for his own profit. in 20, simpson and a group of friends broke into a hotel room in las vegas to steal

memorabilia that simpson claimed belonged to him. >> it is almost unbelievable that the reason he got arrested was that. and it all came full circle for simpson. >> reporter: simpson was found guilty of robbery and kidnapping. >> guilty. >> reporter: sentenced to up to 33 years in prison. >> i hesitate to even ask this question. but after two decades, does it get any easier? >> no. there isn't a day that goes by that i don't think about my son. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm elizabeth vargas in los angeles. >> the lmn documentary premieres september 30th and a&e's doc premieres october 1st. both are partly own the by abc news' parent company disney. when you've got the hair and you've got that body, what else does it take to turn social media fame into an acting gifg? )

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the very handsome man you're about to meet is having a 21st century problem. he's a moon administer hit on instagram but now he wants to get off your phone and onto the big screen. actual acting skills are apparently passe. abc's nick watt finds out what it takes to become a certified hunk 2015 style for our "nightline" series "social stars." >> reporter: this man bun twist and smolder launched the online phenom that is rocco. >> i kind of just ran with it. i didn't put any thought into it. >> reporter: instagram, 1.2

million followers and gushy comments like, drooling. are you jesus? sexy hands. please. >> your hands are like anyone else's. >> they're kind of big hand. >> reporter: and the hair is otherworldly. >> what product to you use in that? >> a few thing differents. i bought moroccan oil on the drive over. >> do you have a girlfriend? >> no. >> why not? when i haven't found her. when i find the right person i'll know and it she'll know it. >> reporter: he's samson, thor, conan -- the barbarian. he's the fabio du jour. online as in life brock nails those bland aphorisms. >> i'm exactly where i need to be today. >> reporter: the 6'7", 255 pound

hunk of burning burning love embodies a modern condition. brock hearn's been touched by social media celebrity. what now? cursory research of his instagram reveals what his fans are after. shots with other girls. a paltry 44,000 likes. showering 77,000 likes. with a cute kid 72,000. abdominal tran versals out the most of all. >> i admire that self-confidence. >> thank you. it's definitely something that as far as the self-confidence and belief in myself, it's something i have developed over the years. it's something that i realize is going to be necessarily for me to create the future and the dream that i have, my vision. >> reporter: today's world to make it, you need unabashed selfie taking and shirtless on a pier level self-confidence. yeah, sponsored social posts can rake in 30 grand a pop. how does this personal trainer parlay all this into plenty of

pennies? >> he is huge right now. tv shows. and movies as well. >> reporter: but new media stars still flock to old media to make big money. today it's brock's first tv acting audition. >> wish me luck. >> you can act? >> i mean -- >> reporter: he'll be fine. acting's mainly about confidence. >> what is the goal? academy award recognition? >> well, yeah, i'd absolutely love that. >> reporter: feeling like a chubby, self-loathing, short, balding half-man. i'm nick watt for "nightline." santa monica. >> our thanks to nick watt. finally, he's a card-carrying new yorker now. mayor de blasio making it official as pope francis made the rounds. the pontiff paying his respects at ground zero and the crowds paying his respects to him. first at a school in east harlem, then as he cruised in central park, thousands jockeying for a glimpse.

unprecedented security at the ready. the mood celebratory as he made his way to mass at madison square garden in the final hours of his historic new york city visit. next, he's off to philly. and we'll have continuing coverage of course of pope francis' time in america beginning first thing in the morning on "gma." as always we're online 24/7 on our "nightline" facebook page and abcnews.com.

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