O.J. Simpson Released from Prison after Serving 9 Years Behind Bars

people.com: ‘Nothing Has Changed’: O.J. Simpson Speaks for the First Time After Being Released from Prison

O.J. Simpson was released from prison in Nevada early Sunday morning after serving nine years for a 2007 kidnapping and armed robbery in Las Vegas.

Brooke Keast, a spokeswoman for the Nevada Department of Corrections, told CNNthat the former NFL star left prison shortly after midnight and was picked up by an unidentified friend.

“I told him, ‘don’t ‘come back,’ and he responded, ‘I don’t intend to,’ ” she told CNN. “He was upbeat, personable and seemed happy to get on with his life.”

Simpson, 70, was released in the middle of the night on a weekend to avoid creating a media circus, Keast said.

O.J. Simpson Released from Prison After Serving 9 Years Behind Bars https://t.co/Rq0IFoHziN

— People (@people) October 1, 2017

“Our biggest concern was our safety and the public’s safety and not wanting anybody, paparazzi, to follow him,” shet said. “He left through a big blue door through the front gatehouse and exited quietly. He looked down because he didn’t want to be photographed.” Later on Sunday after his released, Simpson talked with a paprazzo when he pulled up in a gas station, according to a video obtained by the New York Post.

“I’m in a car for the last five hours, so how do I know how it feels to be out?” he said wrily. “I’ve been in nowhere U.S.A. for the last nine years doing nothing. Nothing has changed in my life. What do you expect?”

When asked where he was going he answered, “None of your business.”

In July, Simpson was granted parole after serving nearly nine years behind bars. During his highly publicized parole hearing, the four Nevada parole board commissioners present unanimously voted for his early release, citing the support Simpson had from his family and his disciplinary-free record while in prison, where he also took anti-violence classes.