Eat, Pray, Love Author Mourns Death of Her 'Liberator'

Rayya Elias was Elizabeth Gilbert's friend, then partner
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 5, 2018 7:30 AM CST
Eat, Pray, Love Author's Partner Dies of Cancer
Elizabeth Gilbert arrives at the European premiere of "Eat, Pray, Love," in London in 2010.   (AP Photo/Paul Jeffers, File)

She famously found love and is now mourning a love lost. Elizabeth Gilbert—the author best known for her 2006 memoir Eat, Pray, Love—on Thursday announced the death of her partner Rayya Elias less than two years after the 57-year-old was diagnosed with pancreatic and liver cancer. Elias was Gilbert's best friend of 15 years before the pair began a romantic relationship in September 2016, following Gilbert's separation from husband Jose Nunes, reports People.

"Thank you for letting me walk with you right to the edge of the river. It has been the greatest honor of my life," Gilbert writes in an Instagram tribute, calling Elias "my comet, my liberator. ... I would tell you to rest in peace, but I know that you always found peace boring. May you rest in excitement. I will always love you." (More Elizabeth Gilbert stories.)

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