One thing is clear in the complicated, sometimes contradictory and often chaotic story of Tara Reade: Her life hasn't been easy.
Her earliest memories were of being physically and emotionally abused by her father, she told her ex-husband, a man she would leave after she said he, too, abused her.
After landing a low-level job in 1992 with then-Sen Joe Biden, Reade said, she was again the victim of abuse after he sexually assaulted her in a hallway an allegation Biden vehemently denies.
That accusation, which Reade made publicly for the first time in March, has revived difficult questions about how to evaluate allegations of assault in the era of #MeToo. It also has drawn intense scrutiny to Reade's life story.
Some who have dealt with her found her duplicitous and deceitful, while others found her a heroic survivor.
It's often not possible to conclusively resolve an allegation like the one Reade has made, where there are no witnesses and no timely police report.
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So how her claim is evaluated turns largely on her credibility.
This account is based on interviews with more than a dozen of her friends, relatives and former colleagues, interviews with Reade and an extensive review of court documents, emails and Reade's own writings.
I'm not a lying, manipulative user, she said in a Wednesday interview with The Associated Press.
I've really understood what it's like to be struggling and poor. I've really tried to help people when I could. And animals especially.
Reade, 56, was born Tara Moulton in Monterey, California, but says she spent most of her childhood in northern Wisconsin until her parents divorced when she was a teenager.
She set out for California at age 17 to become an actress but also said she auditioned for The Juilliard School's exclusive acting program in New York, which she left brokenhearted after her father refused to pay the tuition.
There's little public accounting of the next few years of Reade's life.
Reade said she attended Pasadena City College before landing an internship in Washington with then-California Rep. Leon Panetta.
Her sights were set on a job in Biden's office.
Stacey Ertel, who worked in another Senate office, said they would get lunch, shop or go to a ballgame.
Another friend, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect her family's privacy, described her as a laid-back Californian.
Over the years, Reade spoke favourably about working for Biden.
Margie Estberg, a Monterey Bay, California, area resident, said she got to know Reade after hiring her in late 2017 to pet sit.
Over dinner in 2018, Estberg said, she asked Reade what Biden was like and whether Biden was one of the bad guys."