life of nancy reagan. she was a force in public and behind the scenes. would there have been a president reagan without his wife? >> doing everything we can. >> doing everything we can. >> tonight the decades of love letters that captured their unbreakable bond. first the "nightline 5." >> if you have allergy congestion muddling through your morning is nothing new. your nose is the only thing on your mind. and to get relief, anything is fair game. introducing rhinocort allergy spray. powerful relief from your most frustrating allergy symptoms all day and all night. hasn't your nose been through enough already?

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good evening. many of us, myself included, remember watching hulk hogan's exploits in the ring as a pro wrestler. but today we saw him fighting in an entirely different arena, in cort, on the stand, taking on the website gawker over a sex tape. it's a sensational trial and abc's linzie janis was right there. >> whoever wants to have sex with you -- it started out like that. >> reporter: it's not often a trial with such precedent-setting implications. >> heather started walking in the bedroom, pull ambiguous hand. >> reporter: also so scandalous. >> and bubba walked in right behind us, okay, you guys, i'm going to go to my office, here's a condom.

hogan, whose real name is terry belea, took the stand suit in his lawsuit against gawker. >> going to fying? >> going to tell the truth. >> reporter: he's suing the site for posting a 2007 tape of him having sex with eth heather klem, wife of his best friend. he's claiming he didn't know he was being filmed. this isn't the first time a celebrity sex tape has been leaked. pam anderson. paris hilton. kim kardashian. have all seen tapes get out. but it's the first time one of these cases has ever gotten to trial. at stake, says gawker, could be serious first amendment issues. it all began while hogan was shooting his reality show "hogan knows best." he says he and his wife linda began to drift apart. but he had a friend who he says always had his back. >> he was holding my father as

there was never any question of, you know, who he was or what he meant to me. >> reporter: his name was bubba klem, a popular shock jock in florida known to his fans as the love sponge. now hogan says his best friend proposed an unusual method to make him forget his troubles. >> heather wants to have sex with you, heather wants to see the size of your penis. it started out like that. >> reporter: heather was klem's wife. >> what did klem ask you and do you recall what your answer was? >> i said i would. >> reporter: hogan initially laughed it off. >> i knew they had an open marriage because he talked about it on the radio. i thought with me it was so many times they talked about it, it kind of turned into a joke. >> reporter: at his lowest point he says he called his friend klem. >> she basically said, i'm filing for divorce. all i did was call bubba and was crying like a baby on the phone, broke down. bubba said, come over to the

i was so desperate i went over there. >> reporter: moments after hogan arrived, he says klem's wife grabbed his hand and led him up the stairs to the bedroom. >> from the feeling i had, bubba, you're not filming this, are you? and he just lashed into me, what the hell's wrong with you, i'm your iffing best friend, how dare you say that to me. >> reporter: five years later a tape of that night is posted by gawker as hogan is on a preplanned press tour. >> there's a tape of your [ bleep ]ing heather. >> first off, i've never made a tape. >> you swear you were not in on this? >> i swear to god i wasn't. >> reporter: hogan didn't believe his friend klem was in on this either until later that day. a bombshell. >> when they confirmed bubba was on the tape and bubba turned the camera off and bubba told heather that this is for our retirement, heather -- i just started violently shaking. >> reporter: in a video deposition, heather maintains neither she nor hogan had any idea the encounter was being

>> to the best of your knowledge, mr. bollea had no idea there was a camera in the room at the time of your sexual encounter, is that correct? >> yes. >> reporter: he later settled a lawsuit with klem who apologized for stating that hogan knew he was being taped. but hogan has refused to settle this one. saying gawker, by publishing the tape, violated his privacy. >> they made a conscious decision to expose terry bollea naked and gainengaged in sex and having private conversations in a private bedroom. >> reporter: hogan's lawyers portraying gawker's ceo nick denton, seen here in an nbc interview, as being willing to cross the line. >> is there any subject that's off limits? >> i'm asked that question sometimes and i try to -- i don't like to define the answer. >> they made a conscious

>> reporter: gawker argued today the existence of the tape was already a story in the news. >> hulk hogan is suing to stop a conversation that he largely started and was very much a part of for years. >> reporter: and on cross examination, hogan taking hits. lawyers for the defense pointing out inconsistencies in his past statements. >> were you being honest there, did you view a minute of the program? >> no, i did not. >> okay. you just told folks that? right? >> pretty much i was on auto pilot. i had information from my attorney. and that was just set. i mean, i haven't seen the tape. >> reporter: but this isn't the only time hulk hogan has been filmed without his knowledge. three years after his sex tape leaked, another recording leaked. "the national enquirer" posted an audio clip of him calling his daughter brooke's then-boyfriend

he spoke to abc's amy robach in august last year. >> i was at the lowest point of my life. my personal life was destroyed. i was very mad at my daughter. i was upset over a situation that happened between her and her boyfriend. and i had no idea i was being taped. i was to the point where i wanted to kill myself. i was lost. >> you were suicidal? >> yes, i was. >> father's day card for brooke -- >> reporter: a stark contrast from the hulk hogan on the reality show "hogan knows best" where he was protective of his only daughter brooke. >> i'm almost 18 and i haven't had a boyfriend yet. >> that's good, that's the way i want it. >> reporter: his daughter finally started dating and in the tape he refers to him using the "n" word. >> are you a racist? >> no, i'm not. i'm not a racist. i never should have said what i said. it was wrong. i'm embarrassed by it. >> reporter: the wwe fired him after the tape leaked and wiped

>> i was totally shocked because i've worked with the wwe for almost 30 years off and on. all of a sudden everything i've done, my whole career, my whole life, was like it never happened. >> reporter: since then, hogan says he's turned his life around, recommitted himself to god, and remarried to jennifer mcdaniel, a relationship that he thinks the scandal may have endangered. >> i had no idea if my new relationship and my life on a terry bollea level was going to survive. it's not that great right now. >> reporter: it's the uneasy relationship between the media and the privacy of celebrities that is now on trial. both sides taking credit for landing some blows as they court today. >> today was a very good day. >> terry was able to land exactly what happened, exactly how he felt about it. >> we heard hulk hogan say at times he plays the hulk hogan character and doesn't seem to

we heard he says different things when he's terry bollea. >> reporter: tomorrow the cross examination continued in the trial that so far seems more riveting than your average wwe event. with an outcome that's far more uncertain. for "nightline," i'm linzie janis in florida. next, a love story that ranged from hollywood to the white house. nancy and ronald reagan. their intimate love letters, their secrets to a lasting relationship, and the tributes pouring in tonight one day after her death.o sometimes, grandpa? well, when you have copd, it can be hard to breathe. it can be hard to get air out, which can make it hard to get air in. so i talked to my doctor. she said... symbicort could help you breathe better, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. symbicort helps provide significant improvement

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today the president paid tribute to nancy reagan, the former first lady who died yesterday at the age of 94. and tonight we take a look back at the love story that defined her life. it was this moment, nancy reagan kissing the coffin of former president ronald reagan, that crystallized the love story that formed the super piece of her adult life. >> if a death can be peaceful and lovely, that one was. >> reporter: it was a love story that played out in the public eye for more than half a century. and ranged from hollywood to the white house. >> how do you keep the romance in a marriage? >> i think it used to be that one of you thought that it had to be -- everything had to be your way. or 50/50.

>> what is it? >> sometimes it's 90/10. and you have to be willing to give the 90. or he has to be willing to give the 90. but it's something you want to do. >> there's nothing more wonderful for a man than to approach his own doorstep knowing that someone on the other side of the door is listening for the sound of his footsteps. >> reporter: they met in the early '50s when they were both movie stars. >> how do you know so much about the moon? >> i know a lot about it. spend all my time looking at it when you're away. >> reporter: after they got married, nancy, a graduate of smith college, retired from acting, focusing on taking care of their two children, patty and ron jr., as well as her two stepchildren, michael and maureen, from president reagan's first marriage. >> her love for him was so self-evident, it was inspiring and touching.

author of "ronnie and nancy." >> it was real and it's really what gave him i think the confidence and this optimism he was known to have. >> reporter: they had pet names for one another. she called him ronnie, he called her mommy. they sent one another intimate love letters like this one written by ronald reagan. my darling, i love you so very much. i don't even mind that life made me wait so long to find you. the waiting only made the feeling sweeter. as ronald reagan rose through the political ranks, from governor of california -- >> i, ronald reagan, do solemnly swear -- >> reporter: to the 40th president of the united states, nancy was his closest confidant and fiercest defender. >> he was the visionary. he was the big picture guy. but she was the detail person. and she was the personnel director. she made sure he had good people around him. when they weren't good, she had to get rid of them.

president find the right words. >> doing everything we can. >> doing everything we can. >> reporter: when reagan was shot two months into his presidency -- she became even more protective of her husband. >> i was a very good worrier. >> did he know how much you worried? >> i think so. >> reporter: away from the security and policy concerns, nancy reagan also famously brought hollywood elegance and moxie to the role of first lady. our love is here to stay >> reporter: although she was criticized for her extravagance, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on fancy new white house china. >> what will you do when someone offers you do? >> just say no! >> reporter: as first lady she also made a mark with her advocacy on key issues. her signature cause, the just say no campaign aimed at fighting alcohol and drug abuse.

breast cancer, she decided to share her struggle publicly. >> i couldn't possibly lead the kind of life i lead and keep the schedule that i do having radiation or chemotherapy. there would be no way. >> reporter: but it was a health issue involving her husband that would consume much of her life after the white house. in 1994 when the former president revealed he had alzheimer's disease, she became his sole caretaker. his diagnosis led her to take a stance in support of stem-cell research, later clashing with members of the republican party, including president george w. bush for his opposition to it. >> you could save millions of people's lives if you really charged ahead with stem-cell. hopefully we will. >> reporter: his last few years, as nancy called them, "a long good-bye." >> ronnie stood before you and

his last speech. at a republican convention. >> reporter: paying an emotional tribute during the 1996 republican convention. >> never forget your heroic origins. never fail to seek divine guidance. and never, never lose your natural god-given optimism. >> reporter: when president reagan passed away in 2004, she meticulously planned his funeral. but saying good-bye was clearly not easy. today, one day after we learned of her death at age 94, it was the world paying tribute to nancy reagan. >> i know how much she meant, not just to president reagan but to the country as a whole. he was lucky to have her. and i'm sure he'd be the first to acknowledge that. so she will be missed. >> reporter: her stepson michael

to be with heronny, now she's at peace. a sentiment that brought to mind this interview mrs. reagan did with abc's diane sawyer in which the former first lady recounted a conversation with the reverend billy graham. >> i just want you to tell me that when i go, that ronnie's going to be there waiting for me. and he said, oh, yes. absolutely, nancy. >> reporter: nancy reagan's funeral will be held this friday at the reagan library in simi valley, california. up next here on "nightline," the stunning admission today from maria sharapova, the tennis star and the doping scandal.shopping for an suv?well, this is the time.and your ford dealer isthe place, to get 0% financing for 60months on a ford suv. that's right. just announced. ford explorer...edge...escape...and expedition...

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finally tonight, maria sharapova, star athlete, sex symbol -- and now something much more controversial. here's abc's nick watt. >> reporter: the highest-paid female athlete on our planet. model, entrepreneur, olympic medalist. this afternoon in a los angeles hotel, a bombshell from maria sharapova. >> a few days ago i received a letter from the itf that i had failed a drug test at the australian open. i take full responsibility for it. i made a huge mistake. >> reporter: sharapova is sponsored by porsche. and nike. until they suspended their deal late tonight. could join the list of fallen idols.

lance armstrong, who finally fessed up to oprah. >> did you ever take banned substances to enhance your cycling performance? >> yes. >> reporter: sharapova tested positive for something called meldonium, only added to the ban list january 1st this year. the darling of tennis now on the defense. >> i was given this medicine by my doctor for several health issues that i was having back in 2006. i was getting sick a lot. as well as indications of diabetes. it made me healthy and that's yes continued to take it. >> reporter: officials claim it could boost performance, that's why they banned it. sharapova doesn't deny taking it but claims she had no idea it's now outlawed. >> i know many of you thought that i would be retiring today. but if i was ever going to announce my retirement, it would probably not be in a downtown los angeles hotel with this fairly ugly carpet. >> reporter: sharapova is provisionally suspended, is cooperating, and will likely

>> thank you. >> reporter: i'm nick watt for "nightline" in los angeles. >> thanks to nick watt for that report. our thanks to you for watching. tune into gma first thing in the morning. as always we're online 24/7 on

and abcnews.com.e and abcnews.com. she can't walk on her own but he's got her high on a cliff. >> very carefully he just dangles her over the edge. >> the inspiring balancing act against all odds. a dog looks for one of her puppies. >> who has fallen in this sewer drain. >> see what it takes to get the baby back to mama. a dirt biker takes on a rock. but -- how he nearly lost something else, too. >> oh!

nanny that will bring tears to your eyes. and an eye-watering video up for debate. >> mack dradle, you know the game. >> play along and see if you can spot the truth. this person doesn't just have a name to score 300 points if you are a scrabble, he has a lot of skill as an acrobat. as you can see in this clip where he's balancing on a pile of chairs on a mountain. but there's another video where he is not alone. in fact, he has another acrobat with him, 27-year-old penny. penny is an acrobat and record-breaking swimmer from the paralympics. she has extremely brittle bones. in fact, in her life she's broken over 200. >> wow.