LOS ANGELES -- When Nicole Brown and O.J. Simpson married, they seemed to have the life.
They were vibrant and in love, beautiful people with dazzling smiles who became the center of attention wherever they went.
She was stunningly attractive, cheerful, always smiling. He was rich and getting richer, working steadily as an actor and a high-priced sports commentator after a wildly successful football career.
They hosted parties, filled with famous friends playing games - scavenger hunts were popular - and featuring her cooking.
"He always had a large crowd up at the house," boutique owner Rocco Cedrone told the Los Angeles Times. "The atmosphere was always upbeat."
But court documents and interviews paint a different, darker picture of the marriage between the former high school homecoming court beauty and Orenthal James Simpson.
There were fights. There were repeated calls to the police. Nicole Simpson may have been a classic battered wife. A Los Angeles police report of a 1989 beating incident says when the officer pulled up to the Simpsons' Brentwood mansion, Nicole Simpson - wearing a bra and sweatpants - was hiding in the bushes of the gated estate.
"She cried nervously and repeated, 'He's going to kill me,' " the report says. "I asked her who was going to kill her. She replied, 'O.J.' "
Within seconds, O.J. Simpson came out of the house and yelled at the officer: "I got two women and I don't want that woman in my bed anymore."
When the officer at the scene told him to get dressed because he was under arrest, the football star got mad.
"The police have been out here eight times," O.J. Simpson said, "and now you're going to arrest me for this?"
Later, O.J. Simpson pleaded no contest to spousal battery.
But that wasn't the first or last time police were called to the Simpson home. There were many emergency calls - the latest from Nicole's condo even after the couple's divorce.
In one incident it was reported Nicole Simpson refused to file charges after a neighbor called 911 to report a loud fight and physical abuse. When police arrived, Nicole Simpson insisted her bruises were caused by a fall.
By 1992, the couple was in divorce court. The divorce judgment specifies the couple's monetary arrangements and includes a special instruction that "each party shall have the right to live separate and apart from the other, free of any interference or harassment."
"In cases where there has been a history of harassment, then it's a good idea to put restraining orders in there," says Beverly Hills lawyer Arlene Colman-Schwimmer, who's represented celebrity clients like Rod Stewart's ex-girlfriend Kelly Emberg.
Divorce papers make clear the couple's lavish lifestyle. They wore designer clothes, had a full staff of servants, flew first class - except when they chartered private jets - and Nicole had "pocket money" of $ 6,000 a month.
"With an income of more than $ 1 million per year and a separate estate in excess of $ 10 million, (O.J. Simpson) has the ability to continue to support (Nicole Simpson) and the children in the opulent manner which was maintained during the marriage," her lawyer, Bruce Clemens, wrote.
Nicole was 18 when she began dating O.J. Simpson, two years before he was divorced from his first wife in 1979. She gave up college because he wanted her by his side. She never really worked long at any job, and raising their two children became her main responsibility, divorce papers say.
"He rarely sees the children for more that a few hours a week," Nicole said in the divorce papers.
Before their marriage in 1985, Nicole signed a prenuptial agreement, which guaranteed her, among other things, a San Francisco condominium.
When she left her marriage, she gave up the French country-style estate, the New York luxury apartment, the $ 1.9 million Laguna Beach getaway house.
Nicole Simpson had asked for $ 30,000 a month in alimony and $ 13,000 a month in child support.
She settled for $ 10,000 a month in child support and a lump-sum, tax-free payment of about $ 433,750. That's more than she probably would have gotten if she had received alimony for five years, says Colman-Schwimmer.
Despite their divorce, the two continued to see each other - even though Nicole led an independent life, spending her days jogging and working out and often dancing until the wee hours of the morning. Lately, there was talk of a reconciliation.
Friends of O.J. Simpson painted a much kinder picture of the Simpson marriage. Now, they say, O.J. is despondent - a grieving man holed up with family in his Brentwood mansion.
"I've never seen him lower, he's very, very distraught," said Bob Chandler, who played college and professional football with Simpson and spoke with him by phone Wednesday. "In my firsthand experience, I've never seen him violent, I've never seen him overreact to a situation, I've never seen him aggressive with women."
Said La Scala Presto waitress Felicia Axt: "She was just a really nice lady, which is hard to find in Brentwood."
