In a Facebook post published Wednesday, Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, revealed she is in love with another woman — Rayya Elias, her best friend of over a decade and fellow author.
Rayya Elias is a filmmaker, musician, and the author of Harley Loco: A Memoir of Hard Living, Hair, and Post-Punk, From the Middle East to the Lower East Side. Gilbert and Elias have been friends for more than 15 years.
This past spring, Gilbert received news that Elias had been diagnosed with pancreatic and liver cancer.
In the moment I first learned of Rayya's diagnosis, a trap door opened at the bottom of my heart (a trap door I didn't even know was there) and my entire existence fell straight through that door. From that moment forward, everything became about HER. I cancelled everything in my life that could be cancelled, and I went straight to her side, where I have been ever since.
The diagnosis actually helped Gilbert realize her true feelings toward her longtime best friend and loyal companion.
Death — or the prospect of death — has a way of clearing away everything that is not real, and in that space of stark and utter realness, I was faced with this truth: I do not merely love Rayya; I am in love with Rayya. And I have no more time for denying that truth. The thought of someday sitting in a hospital room with her, holding her hand and watching her slide away, without ever having let her (or myself!) know the extent of my true feelings for her...well, that thought was unthinkable.
"I do not merely love Rayya; I am in love with Rayya," Gilbert wrote.
The revealing post shed new light on the details behind the end of Gilbert's marriage to José Nunes, who many may remember as Felipe in Eat, Pray, Love (both the memoir and the 2010 film starring Julia Roberts).
Gilbert ended the post by declaring that she would face this disease alongside Elias, "not only as her friend, but as her partner."
Thank you for the love, everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. ❤️
"So. Here is where we stand now: Rayya and I are together. I love her, and she loves me," Gilbert added. "I'm walking through this cancer journey with her, not only as her friend, but as her partner. I am exactly where I need to be — the only place I can be."
The emotional post, which has been liked over 11,000 times, has moved many people:
In 2015, the pair were profiled in a Sydney Morning Herald article titled "Opposites Attract." The author of that article posted a link to the piece in the comment section of Gilbert's post, noting that he was not surprised by the news:
