Eat Pray Love author Elizabeth Gilbert has revealed the details of her intense love affair with her dying friend, Rayya Elias, describing a journey from a happy marriage to a tumultuous relationship marked by addiction and terminal illness.
Gilbert first met Elias in 2000, when she was 31 and married. Elias, a hairdresser and former drug addict, was cutting hair from a walk-up apartment in New York's East Village. Gilbert was drawn to her humour and exoticism, but did not fall in love until years later.
In 2016, Elias was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given six months to live. Gilbert left her husband to care for her, and they began a romantic relationship. However, Elias's refusal to accept a dignified death led to a period of chaos, with Elias using cocaine, morphine, and other drugs, and becoming paranoid and abusive.
Gilbert described the apartment becoming a 'dungeon of misery' with thousands of dollars' worth of cocaine, as Elias rejected hospice care and verbally abused her. Despite the hardship, Gilbert remained by her side until Elias's death in 2018.
The story, which Gilbert has shared in a new memoir, highlights the complexities of love, loyalty, and the struggle to support a partner through addiction and terminal illness.
