The connection we have is spiritual. It's not just the girlfriend. It is somebody who has gotten to know somebody's heart." So said Paula Barbieri to Diane Sawyer on ABC's Prime Time Live, describing her relationship with O.J. Simpson. A 27-year-old Elite model who has been on the cover of Vogue and posed in Victoria's Secret catalogs, Barbieri was the woman who accompanied Simpson to a Bel Air charity gala the night before Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were murdered. She was initially identified in the press as a tall, mysterious brunette, but her name quickly caught up to her face when Simpson bid her what turned out to be a very public goodbye in the presumptive suicide note his lawyer and friend Robert Kardashian read to reporters the day Simpson disappeared. And so Paula Barbieri-- a self-sufficient woman, a model, an actress, a standout among those who flock to L.A.'s best restaurants and most exclusive parties--was inextricably linked with Simpson. The media attention caused her to flee to a ranch owned by friends, who supported her, just as she had consoled the sports star who is now accused of a brutal crime. Barbieri told Sawyer that she spoke to Simpson by phone almost daily after he was arrested and that, though their relationship changed when he attempted a reconciliation with his ex-wife, she was his friend for life. Born and raised in Panama City, Florida, Barbieri says she was won over by Simpson's spiritual side after they met in 1992. For his part, Simpson told The Buffalo News last year, "This is the first woman I've been involved with who had a career. It is the first time I've had to make concessions to another schedule, which is weird to me." Barbieri has modeled since she was a teen and is starting to make her mark as an actress. In October 1993 she learned the art of pool hustling from Francesco Quinn in an episode of Zalman King's Red Shoe Diaries called "Double or Nothing." Fans briefly confused Barbieri with Julia Roberts--and she even went so far as to indulge them by signing autographs "Love, Julia." A friend of Paula's, photographer Peter Beard, brought her to our attention almost a year ago, dubbing her "the body, the lips, the face" for the Nineties. These pictures were taken by Beard in and around Lamu, Kenya during a happier time in Barbieri's life. They are mementos of a woman whose beauty never blinded her to the meaning of friendship.
