Elizabeth Gilbert Thanks Fans for Support After Revealing Relationship With Best Friend

Elizabeth Gilbert is thankful for the support of her fans after revealing that her marriage ended because of a new romance with her longtime best friend, Rayya Elias.

“Thank you all for the love, the grace, the sensitivity, the kindness, and the support,” the Eat Pray Love author wrote on Facebook. “But mostly: Thank you for the love.”

Alongside the message, Gilbert shared a quote from Elias, herself, which read: “The truth has legs; it always stands. When everything else in the room has blown up or dissolved away, the only thing left standing will always be the truth. Since that’s where you’re gonna end up anyway, you might as well just start there.”

Gilbert announced her relationship with Elias on social media earlier this week, explaining that she fell in love with the fellow author after 15 years of friendship.

The revelation followed Elias’ diagnosis with pancreatic and liver cancer this past spring, and also lead to the end of Gilbert’s marriage to José Nunes – the man who inspired the “love” portion of Eat, Pray, Love.

“I am exactly where I need to be – the only place I can be,” Gilbert wrote, adding, “I love [Elias], and she loves me.”

Elias, an accomplished hairdresser, musician, and former addict, penned a memoir about her life, Harley Loco, in 2013. Gilbert, who wrote the book’s introduction, first met the 55-year-old when friends sent her to Elias for a haircut.

In a 2015 profile of the women’s friendship, published in the Sydney Morning Herald, Elias said that some of her friends refer to Gilbert as her spouse.

She said, “I know it sounds like a love story and it totally is.”

“It’s not your sister, it’s not your lover, it’s not your BFF,” Gilbert added of their relationship. “There isn’t really an identifier for it.”

This article originally appeared on People.com