Eat, Pray, Marry! Elizabeth Gilbert Ties The Knot With Cancer-Stricken Girlfriend
Jun. 6 2017, Published 10:07 p.m. ET
Eat, Pray, get married for a third time!
Author Elizabeth Gilbert announced she and her girlfriend recently tied the knot, but also admitted that her new wife has secretly been battling a grave illness.
“Over the last year, Rayya Elias and I have been through some really difficult days together — but not today. Today was precious and perfect. A simple and spontaneous ceremony of love, surrounded by a handful of friends and family,” she wrote on social media, accompanied by a photograph of her in a white dress, Elias in a tuxedo vest and white blouse and a bouquet of pink flowers.
“Our ceremony was nothing legally binding (no need to alert the authorities, folks!)...just a quiet and private celebration of what we have long known to be true: We belong to each other,” she wrote.
In 2016 Gilbert announced that she and her husband, Jose Nunes, known as “Felipe” in her best-selling novel, were separating.
Gilbert happily moved on with her former best friend, only to face new tragedy.
“More difficult days are to come. It doesn't get easier from here," she wrote. "Rayya's illness is grave. But our love is strong. We will walk together as far as we can go together. After that, it all gets turned over to God.”
Gilbert’s first divorce was the basis of her novel Eat, Pray, Love and ended with her falling in love again with Nunes.
In 2016 she revealed that she and Elias, who have been friends for over 15 years, were a couple.
“I do not merely love Rayya; I am in love with Rayya,” she wrote on her Facebook page. “And I have no more time for denying that truth.”
Gilbert’s happy and tragic news ended with a simple messages: “Create beauty with every day you are given.”
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