--- title: Elizabeth Gilbert Dating Female Best Friend Rayya Elias description: Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of the bestselling Eat, Pray, Love, says she's in love with her female best friend, Syrian author Rayya Elias. canonical: https://time.com/4482772/elizabeth-gilbert-love-rayya-elias-eat-pray-love/ author: Samantha Cooney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-07T20:20:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:03:19.052Z og:title: 'Eat, Pray, Love' Author Says She's In Love With Her Female Best Friend og:description: Elizabeth Gilbert says she's in love with her female best friend, Syrian author Rayya Elias og:url: https://time.com/4482772/elizabeth-gilbert-love-rayya-elias-eat-pray-love/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4829a99b29d2024d/6988a520656a3f5abdbcd018/elizabeth-gilbert-best-friend-dating.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Oprah's The Life You Want Weekend - Seattle, WA og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Eat, Pray, Love' Author Says She's In Love With Her Female Best Friend twitter:description: Elizabeth Gilbert says she's in love with her female best friend, Syrian author Rayya Elias twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4829a99b29d2024d/6988a520656a3f5abdbcd018/elizabeth-gilbert-best-friend-dating.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _Eat, Pray, Love_ Author Elizabeth Gilbert Says She's In Love With Her Female Best Friend > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture recommendation newsletter, edited by culture editor Eliza Berman. Twice a week it surfaces the books, shows, films and ideas TIME's editors think are worth your attention, and explains why. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Does TIME have a culture newsletter? Yes. Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters.  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney Sep 7, 2016 8:20 PM UTC  SEATTLE, WA - NOVEMBER 08: Author Elizabeth Gilbert speaks on stage during 'Oprah's The Life You Want Weekend' at KeyArena on November 8, 2014 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Mat Hayward/Getty Images) SEATTLE, WA - NOVEMBER 08: Author Elizabeth Gilbert speaks on stage during 'Oprah's The Life You Want Weekend' at KeyArena on November 8, 2014 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Mat Hayward/Getty Images) Mat Hayward—Getty Images  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney Sep 7, 2016 8:20 PM UTC [Elizabeth Gilbert,](http://motto.time.com/4256296/ted-talks-creativity/?iid=sr-link2) the author of the bestselling book _Eat, Pray, Love_, says she’s in love with her female best friend, Syrian author [Rayya Elias. ](http://rayyaelias.com/about/) Gilbert, who announced [her breakup with her husband](http://motto.time.com/4391895/eat-pray-love-breakup/?iid=sr-link1) in July, explained in [a Facebook post](https://www.facebook.com/GilbertLiz/posts/1107564732658974:0) on Wednesday that she decided to leave her marriage after learning that Elias was diagnosed with pancreatic and liver cancer in the spring. Gilbert and Elias have [been friends](http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/opposites-attract-20150209-13a0c8.html) for over 15 years, frequently [appearing together at events](http://www.wnyc.org/events/books/2013/apr/09/rayya-elias-will-be-conversation-elizabeth-gilbert-and-performing-barnes-noble/) and supporting each other’s work publicly. “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,” Gilbert wrote in the post. “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.” [_Follow Motto on Facebook_](https://www.facebook.com/mottoworkplaylive/)_._ Gilbert said that she decided to announce her relationship publicly so she can both support Elias through her cancer battle and live her life authentically. “I need to be able to walk into any room in the world with Rayya on my arm, feeling relaxed enough to stand comfortably in simple openness about who we actually are to each other. If I can’t be my true self (whether at home in privacy, or out there in the world in public) then things will very quickly get messy and weird and stupid in my life,” Gilbert said. “Trust me: We will not be wasting a moment of our time together, for as much time as we are given.” Gilbert thanked fans for their support in a tweet later on Wednesday, sharing a picture of her and Elias. > [](https://twitter.com/GilbertLiz/status/773556958985068549) Read Gilbert’s full Facebook post below: ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4482772/elizabeth-gilbert-love-rayya-elias-eat-pray-love/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4482772/elizabeth-gilbert-love-rayya-elias-eat-pray-love/"},"headline":"Eat, Pray, Love Author Elizabeth Gilbert Says She's In Love With Her Female Best Friend","datePublished":"2016-09-07T20:20:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:03:19.052Z","description":"\"If I can't be my true self....then things will very quickly get messy and weird and stupid in my life.\"","url":"https://time.com/4482772/elizabeth-gilbert-love-rayya-elias-eat-pray-love/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4829a99b29d2024d/6988a520656a3f5abdbcd018/elizabeth-gilbert-best-friend-dating.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Cooney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4829a99b29d2024d/6988a520656a3f5abdbcd018/elizabeth-gilbert-best-friend-dating.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Oprah's The Life You Want Weekend - Seattle, WA","caption":"Oprah's The Life You Want Weekend - Seattle, WA","creditText":"Mat Hayward—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4482772/elizabeth-gilbert-love-rayya-elias-eat-pray-love/","name":"Eat, Pray, Love Author Elizabeth Gilbert Says She's In Love With Her Female Best Friend"}}]}] ```