Turns out that O.J. Simpson was both a fan and friend of Betty White, who he said was catnip to his two felines.
The two were neighbors, with Simpson living at his now notorious Brentwood, Calif., estate — when his missing cats repeatedly turned up at White’s North Carmelita Street home a few blocks away.
The pets, Bugsy and Sashi, were Abyssinians who “liked to hunt and normally they’d be in my backyard going through a lot of drama with these mockingbirds in this willow tree of mine but one day we couldn’t find (one of them,)” Simpson recalled in a video.
The family was upset, Simpson said, and were about to go paper the neighborhood with signs when he got a call from Betty White.
“OJ you’re looking for your kitten? He’s here at the house,” White said, according to Simpson.
Three weeks later, even before the Simpson family knew Bugsy was missing again, White called to say he was at her place. When Simpson went over to pick up the cat, he asked her, “What is it Betty, do you have catnip on your property? Why is this cat always coming over here?”
“Oh you know, I’m so sweet, cats like me,” she replied.
Three months later Bugsy went missing again, and Simpson went directly to White’s house. The cat wasn’t there, but within minutes Simpson heard meowing from a tree that bordered White’s property. It was Bugsy.
“Never understood what that was about,” Simpson said. “I guess she was right, she’s so sweet that the cats just gravitate to her.”
White died Friday, two weeks before her 100th birthday.
