I will say that Nowak was pretty at one time. She has a beautiful smile in her official pics. The years haven't been kind to her though, and the prison garb sure doesn't help.
I feel kind of bad for her. In her NASA photos, she looked in control of herself. I think she just got enamored of this guy, and and wanted him to like, or love her. She probably gave up a decent marriage to chase this dream. Very sad. Its a common situation though.