Marcia Clark Moves On

With a Revamped Career That Includes Books and Television, the Famed Prosecutor Is Proof That Staying Positive Works

- Samantha Simon

My life is so different now from what it was in the ’90s. 

As a prosecutor, I got up every morning and went to court. That’s what I did. I thought I was going to do that job forever, but the day the jury returned its verdict in the O.J. Simpson trial, I walked out of the D.A.’s office and never went back. I just couldn’t do it anymore.

In the aftermath of the trial, all I wanted to do was crawl into a hole and never come out again. But I couldn’t afford to do that. I had a family to support. And I still wanted to live a purposeful life and contribute somehow. I said to myself, “You might not feel like standing up right now, but you’ve got to set wheels in motion.” The question was, Which wheels?

I started with the first opportunity that presented itself: to write a book about the trial. I had always loved the idea of writing but never had the guts to go for it until then. Next came speaking engagements, TV commentary, and hosting cable-news talk shows. All of it was so foreign to me. It felt as if I were stepping off a cliff into the unknown every day.