'She loved those kids so much': Nicole Brown Simpson's sister calls her slain older sibling a dedicated mother in the wake of upcoming miniseries about OJ Simpson's sensational murder trial

While Nicole Brown Simpson's sister Tanya has called slain older sibling a loving mother who was dedicated to her family in the wake of the upcoming miniseries surrounding the sensational criminal trial over her 1994 death. 

Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman were found murdered in the courtyard of her Brentwood, California, condominium on June 12, 1994. 

The suspected murderer, who attacked the pair with a knife, was Nicole's ex-husband and football legend OJ Simpson, who was found not guilty following a sensational criminal trial in 1995. 

Tanya Brown and her sister, Denise Brown recently shredded 15 bags of documents from Simpson's trial.

Despite trying to put OJ Simpson's sensational 1995 trial over the death of Nicole Brown Simpson behind her, Nicole's sister Tanya Brown (pictured) said she will reluctantly watch the FX miniseries starting February 2

Tanya Brown and her sister, Denise Brown recently shredded 15 bags of documents from Simpson's controversial trial. Pictured above, Murder defendant Simpson (right) consults with friend Robert Kardashian (center) and Alvin Michelson (left), the attorney representing Kardashian, during a hearing about Kardashian taking the witness stand in the football legend's murder trail in 1995

Nicole Brown Simpson (left) was found murdered in the courtyard of her Brentwood, California, condominium 1994. The main suspect of the killing was her ex-husband OJ Simpson, who was found not guilty in 1995

'We got rid of everything,' Brown, 46, told PEOPLE. 'Even receipts. 'We didn't want to hold onto 21 years of bad memories. Who wants to remember the trial? We held onto that for 21 years. We released it. New chapter. New journey. We said, "We are getting rid of it all", and it's gone.'

Despite trying to put the trial behind her, Brown said she will reluctantly watch the FX miniseries, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.

'I want people to understand that Nicole was a person, a human being. She had blood going through her veins. She had a voice. She had a smile,' Brown told PEOPLE.

The ten-part miniseries will start on February 2. 

'This was the ultimate act of betrayal by her dying at the hand of somebody who has been in our family since I was seven,' Tayna told PEOPLE.

'We were just a close family and we had fun,' she added. 'OJ always said that he considered our family his family - more than his own.

'He whispered that in my right ear at Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner one year at their house on Rockingham. I will never forget that.'

Nicole allegedly suffered beatings at the hands of Simpson, but told few people of the horrors that went on during her marriage. 

Brown didn't learn of the domestic abuse until after her sister was killed. Denise told her years later that Nicole didn't tell Brown about the beatings because she was young at the time.

The Brown sisters have spent more than two decades speaking publicly about domestic violence.

'Everybody equates Nicole with being a domestic violence victim, which she was, beyond belief,' Tanya Brown told PEOPLE. 

But still, Brown said Nicole was a hands-on mom who loved spending time with her children, Sydney and Justin, now 30 and 27.

 Football legend OJ Simpson married Nicole Brown in 1985, but Nicole filed for divorce just seven years later in 1992

Nicole (left) and her friend Ron Goldman (right) were found dead - victims of a vicious knife attack - on June 12, 1994

'She was very hands-on,' she said. 'She just made sure that her kids were having fun and being kids.'

'She loved those kids so much,' she added. 'They were her priority.' 

Brown said that her family was always 'hanging out' and spending time with one another.

'We were always hanging out,' she says. 'We come from a big family and when we were together, it was just always full of laughter and full of joy and lots of good cooking. Nicole was a great cook.' 

Nicole was 'gorgeous, but extremely down-to-earth, her younger sister said.

'Nicole was always in jeans, flip flops or shorts, chewing gum and wearing lip gloss,' Brown said. 'My sister was always simple.

'When she was down in Laguna [Beach, California], she would always wear her bathing suit. She was a beach person. She wasn't wrapped up in the Hollywood scene. She was a homebody.'

She said her sister loved her Jeep Cherokee, and preferred it over the Ferrari she also had.

'You know that Ferrari she had?' Brown said. 'She hated that car with a passion. She was like, "Why did he get me this car? I have kids!"'

'Stuff did not matter to her. What mattered to her was having a home for her children,' she told PEOPLE. 

Brown said that though you never get over the death of a loved one, 'as time goes on you learn to live life without that person and your tears turn into joy and laughter. I think that's really important for anybody going through grief.

'Those who have passed don't want you to be mad and bitter and sad all the time,' she added. 'It's part of a normal grieving process, of course, but you have to get to a point where you are accepting of it, surrendering to the fact that your loved one is gone. It's not until you surrender that that healing can begin.' 

Simpson is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in a Nevada prison after a 2007 conviction for armed robbery, kidnapping and weapons charges following an attempt to reclaim memorabilia that belonged to him. He is eligible for parole in 2017.   

Simpson, pictured above in 2008, is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in a Nevada prison after a 2007 conviction for armed robbery, kidnapping and weapons charges following an attempt to reclaim memorabilia that belonged to him