Artifacts and photos focus on her life and not the crime that took her life

PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. — The former wife of O.J. Simpson was murdered 25 years ago. This weekend would have been Nicole Brown Simpson's 60th birthday

That's why Alcatraz East Crime Museum in Pigeon Forge is opening a new exhibit Friday called "Passion for Life: Nicole Brown Simpson."

The Brown family is loaning the museum family photos, personal items, and artifacts. Photos show happier times with O.J. and many shots with her kids.

She liked to dress casually and a pair of jeans and sweatshirt reflects that.

The exhibit intentionally focuses on her life and not the crime.

Director of Artifacts and Exhibits, Rachael Penman, said, "What people think about Nicole is what happened with her death and the trial and all the sensationalism and we didn't want to get into all that because that's not who she was as a person. So we wanted to take things back to her life and focus on that as who she was as a mother, a daughter, a sister, what she was really passionate about."

As part of the exhibit, the museum features domestic violence information and local resources.

A jury found O.J. Simpson not guilty of murder, but a civil court later ordered him to pay the victims' families more than $33 million.