As the ’90s come back in full effect, including the infamous O.J. Simpson case, which is back in the news, actor Cuba Gooding Jr. is chiming in as well.
Gooding, who portrays the once-upon-a-time gridiron great in the popular FX series The People v. O.J. Simpson, said he suffered a “nervous breakdown” on the set after he shot the funeral scene of Nicole Brown Simpson, according to the New York Daily News.
“As I did this research, specifically one scene in particular—when we shot the scene at the funeral when O.J. kisses Nicole’s corpse. I remember we broke for lunch and I went into my trailer and I couldn’t stop weeping,” the 48-year-old told Steve Harvey on Thursday.
“I literally had a nervous breakdown, and I said I think I finally grieved for that family. I think it hit me that both those families were shattered, and I just felt extreme guilt,” he added.
The families that Gooding refers to include those of Ronald Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson, both of whom were stabbed to death outside her Brentwood, Calif., home in 1994. O.J. Simpson, Nicole’s estranged husband, was charged with the murders but found not guilty of the crimes.
The Daily News reports that Gooding says he feels guilty that the murders are back in the spotlight. Apparently the Goldman family is none too happy with the series and said so earlier in the week.
“I don’t pretend to try to understand what any of this means to either the Goldmans or the Browns, but I’m an actor,” said Gooding. “I was asked to do a role. Hopefully I brought some truth to it, and that will help in the process of understanding the circus that was this time in America.”
Read more at the New York Daily News.