Kim Goldman Experienced Trauma Years Before Her Brother, Ron Goldman, Was Brutally Murdered
"This would be the first night that would forever change the landscape of my life."
Published Jan. 30 2025, 4:15 p.m. ET
On June 12, 1994, Kim Goldman's brother, Ron Goldman, was brutally murdered alongside Nicole Brown Simpson. This crime was made infamous by the man who was accused of killing them both, former NFL player O.J. Simpson. Unfortunately, Ron's story would be pushed to the background as the salacious details of O.J. and his ex-wife's relationship became media fodder.
More than two decades after his death, Kim posted about Ron on her Facebook page. Beneath a black and white photo of the two of them, she wrote, "I live every day with grief and loss; it doesn't overwhelm me like it has but wow, can it cripple me sometimes." Sadly this wasn't the first time Kim had to process a traumatic experience. It left her with emotional and physical scars, the latter of which were on her face. What happened to Kim Goldman? Here's what we know.
What happened to KIm Goldman's face? She was in a car accident when she was a kid.
In her book Can't Forgive: My 20-Year Battle With O.J. Simpson, Kim revealed that when she was days away from turning 14, her family got into a car accident. It happened on Dec. 20, 1985, and left the young girl with a scar on her face. "With my braces cutting into my lips, my eyes without vision, and battery acid burning an imprint on my soul — this would be the first night that would forever change the landscape of my life," she wrote.
The Goldmans were on vacation in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and were only day two of the 14-day adventure, when the unthinkable happened. Her father, soon-to-be stepmother, and Ron were driving in their station wagon when a drunk driver lost control of his vehicle after a tire blew. When the intoxicated driver swerved, he hit a nearby tree, which caused his car battery to go hurling into the Goldmans' station wagon. Not only were they cut by shattered glass, but the battery was expelling acid everywhere.
Ron Goldman pulled his sister out of the car.
Kim recalled Ron yanking her out of the station wagon and placing her on the ground. Patti, their father's fiancée, was screaming for help. Thankfully, an emergency crew happened to be in a parking lot by the accident, so they rushed over to help. If wasn't for their quick thinking, Kim might have been blinded as they immediately knew to pour water all over her face.
Patti was left with first- and second-degree acid burns on her face while Kim suffered first-, second-, and third-degree acid burns on her neck, eyes, nose, and forehead. She required multiple plastic surgery procedures in an effort to help her get back to who she was. After that tragedy, Kim said she focused on who she was as a person and tried less to think about her physical appearance. What helped her the most was working hard in school and helping others.
As an adult, she said she still has trouble looking at herself in the mirror, as the scars are a constant reminder of what she endured. Despite that, she thinks of them as beauty marks that trace the "beginning stages of my journey in survivorship."