OJ Simpson was his own worst enemy in trying to restore his reputation after being acquitted in the infamous double murder trial, an expert has said.

Simpson died on Wednesday following a battle with prostate cancer. He was 76.

His family revealed that Simpson was surrounded by his children and grandchildren in Las Vegas at the time of his death.

Simpson was a superstar on and off the football field before his legacy was eclipsed by the notorious double murder trial in January 1995.

Simpson was a Heisman Trophy winner, a two-time All-American in college, the first overall pick in the 1969 NFL Draft, and capped off a stellar 11-year career by being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985.

Meanwhile, off the gridiron, OJ Simpson flirted with a potential career in Hollywood.

He starred in the trilogy of The Naked Gun franchise, portraying detective Fred Nordberg, and even made appearances in a handful of television series.

At one point, director James Cameron even considered casting Simpson in the lead role in 1984’s The Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger told The Independent in 2019.

But despite his accolades on and off the football, the once-prominent star was never able to restore his reputation after being charged with the 1994 murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman.

His trial was coined the “trial of the century” due to the worldwide media coverage sparked by the infamous Ford Bronco chase through Los Angeles that led to Simpson’s arrest.

OJ LOST HIS JUICE

Despite a jury acquitting him of all charges, Simpson was never able to regain that spark that captivated millions.

“He failed at trying to recapture his reputation largely because he tried to monetize the strong likelihood that he was the killer,” Eric Schiffer, chairman of the Los Angeles-based firm Reputation Management Consultants, exclusively told The U.S. Sun.

“Which, for anyone who had any questions, cemented their decision.”

One of those moments came during an interview with Today Show journalist Ruby Wax, where he pretended to stab her with a banana after she pressed him if he committed the murders.

Schiffer said Simpson’s 2007 book, If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer, was the final blow in his failed attempt at glory.

“At the time when all this happened, he had such enormous popularity and was super charismatic and the star that had almost a Disney-esque aura,” Schiffer said.

“The terrible murder of his ex-wife and Ron Goldman caused so many to begin to be baffled at how someone who appeared so affable and cool would be such a brutal killer.

“But over time, instead of doing a more conservative approach, his actions — including some of the behavior that he did in Nevada where he then faced a prison term, and the book in which he highlighted this hypothetical about how the murder might have happened — made it very easy for people who were on the fence to clarify who the real cold killer was.

“He was his own worst enemy throughout major parts of his life — starting with his inability to control his behavior.”

Simpson was convicted of 12 counts of armed robbery and kidnapping in 2008 and sentenced to 33 years.

He was granted parole in 2017 after serving nine years.

INFLATED EGO

Schiffer believes Simpson should’ve taken a different approach to his second chance at life.

“He certainly could have dedicated himself. Look, he could have, at minimum, not written a book that described the hypothetical scenario of the killer,” Schiffer told The U.S. Sun.

“He could have kept himself away from further incarceration of any kind – and out of the news.

“And spent more time giving back to society and helping people.

“There was a whole other path he could’ve taken that may have related to assisting those who were his expertise, like football, or some attention he was still able to bring.

“He may have tried to do some of that, but that would’ve been a way to assist him.

“But he wasn’t able to control his ego, and his judgment was impaired — perhaps by drugs and a narcissism he never really could get a hold of.”

‘DESTROYED HIS REPUTATION’

Schiffer said Simpson’s memory will forever live in two separate lanes – one for his greatness on the football field and another solely about the murders.

“That’s the interesting piece about this, is that overtime, his football greatness has a component to it similar to how music works in the public’s mind,” he said.

“How when you have a great musician who may have been convicted of something heinous or may have done something despicable – that memory, with most people, fades over the years.

“But quality music and great football exploits don’t. On some level, that component will stay alive, but so will, on a separate lane, the terrible murder and the bizarre choices that he made afterward that were not rational and likely drug-induced that, caused him to further shame and destroy his reputation.

“Caitlyn said it best – that it’s a chapter. It’s over. He’s no longer on this earth, and there are many that have never understood how someone like him could do the things he did. This sort of ends that chapter.”