"He was very private and mysterious," said Suzanne Solgot of River who had introduced himself to her as simply "Rio". She had not known who he was at the time - soon to play a marine, River had cut his hair short for the movie Dogfight. "When I met him he didn't have any hair," she said. "We never talked much about our past or who we were, though I was always curious."

River met the massage therapist who was in her mid-twenties in Gainesville where she played the saxophone in the all-girl punk-band called Mutley Chix. They both shared common interests and the two moved into an apartment in Gainesville. The relationship would become strained around the time of filming of My Own Private Idaho when River began spending less and less time at home.

Sue Solgot in Even Cowgirls Get The Blues.

"When we first met he seemed really sweet and gentle," she said. "There was a lot of pressure on him. His childhood had been so different from other people's that he had to catch up. He was always very responsible and serious as a child and then when he got older he started having more fun, partying more. It's really complex, but he became more hassled, more worldly."

Of their break-up in January 1993, Solgot would echo the thoughts of River's first girlfriend, Martha Plimpton saying, "He didn't want me nagging him - pointing out the contradictions between his public stance and what he was doing to his body."

"When he died I was surprised, but not really surprised," said Solgot. "It was like I knew it would happen. I just felt it. I'm sure it wasn't suicide or anything like that. He had so much to live for, there was so much he wanted to do."

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