Trial and Tribulation

Do you remember where you were the moment the O.J. Simpson verdict was announced? Oprah does—it was October 3, 1995, and she was standing in front of a live studio audience awaiting the jury's decision. More than 10 years later, Oprah shares how she really felt when she heard the words "not guilty."

"For a long time after that [day], people wrote in asking what I was really thinking when they read the not guilty verdict. So here it is: I was completely shocked," she says. "I couldn't believe that verdict. As a journalist, I was trying to keep some sense of balance in the midst of my own very strong opinions, but it was difficult to do that day."

That day was even more difficult for Christopher Darden, the assistant prosecutor assigned to the O.J. Simpson case. The double-murder trial, known as the "trial of the century," captivated millions of Americans for 133 days and changed Christopher's life forever.

Less than two years after the trial ended, Christopher appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and gave an emotional interview about the prosecution's public defeat.

"I don't mind losing," he said almost 10 years ago. "I've lost before. But to lose this way—to have this process turned into a circus, a joke—it was a waste of my life. We gave up so much of ourselves for nothing."