Photo: Instagram
He is her late wife's friend.
By Amy Lamare — Written on Mar 30, 2019
Stop the presses! Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert is in love ... again! The 49-year-old's wife Rayya Elias lost her battle with pancreatic and liver cancer on January 4, 2018. Now, a bit more than a year later, she's in love once more, this time with a man. She took to Instagram on Monday to share a lengthy post about her new boyfriend and their history together. He was one of her late wife's very best friends. Gilbert has a long history of falling in and out of love publicly. It was her 2002 divorce from Michael Cooper that inspired her trip around the world and the book Eat, Pray, Love. In 2007 she married Jose Nunes, whom she met in Bali during her travels. On July 1, 2016 she announced on her Facebook page that she was separating from Nunes. A couple of months later, she was back on Facebook announcing that she and her BFF Rayya Elias had fallen in love and that was the reason for her split from Nunes — her sudden realization that she was bisexual. They got married in June 2017. Now, she's in love once again. Who is Simon MacArthur?
1. He was friends with her ex-wife
Elizabeth Gilbert took to her Instagram account Monday to share the news that she is in love.“Please meet my sweetheart, Mr. Simon MacArthur. He’s a photographer from the U.K. — a beautiful man who has been a friend of mine for years. He wasn't just a friend of Gilbert's, he was one of Rayya Elias' best friends for decades. According to Gilbert: "Simon was a beloved friend of Rayya’s for decades. They lived together in London over 30 years ago, and they adored each other forever like siblings. This, as you can imagine, means the world to me.”
2. Her reason for sharing the news
The author said her reason for sharing the news was to help other people who may be grieving. “If you have lost a loved one to death, and you thought you’d never love again, but you are feeling a pull of attraction toward someone new, and you’re not sure if that’s OK? Let me normalize it for you. Let me say: It’s Ok. Your heart is a giant cathedral. Let it open. Let it love.”
3. Her devastation over wife's death
When Rayya Elias lost her battle with pancreatic and liver cancer, Gilbert was understandably devastated. She wrote on Instagram: "She was my love, my heart, my best friend, my teacher, my rebel, my angel, my protector, my challenger, my partner, my muse, my wizard, my surprise, my gift, my comet, my liberator, my rock star, my completely impossible non-cooperator, my otherworldly visitor, my spiritual portal, and my baby. I loved you so much, Rayya. Thank you for letting me walk with you right to the edge of the river. It has been the greatest honor of my life. 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."
4. She positively gushed about new love
Elizabeth Gilbert's happiness over finding love again with Simon MacArthur is palpable. In her lengthy Instagram post, she also wrote: “Of late, Simon and I have found our way to each other’s arms. And now here we are, and his heart has been such a warm place for me to land. I share this news publicly, despite the fact that our love story is so new and young and tender, for a few reasons. For one thing, I just want to say: If you see me walking around with a tall handsome man on my arm, don’t be buggin’. Just know that your girl is happy, and following her heart. But also this: I will always share anything personal about my life, if it could help someone else feel more normal about their life... Or…if you are falling in love in middle age and it’s terrifying, because you feel just as dumb and crazy and excited and insecure as you did at 16? Well, let me normalize this for you. It’s OK. You will always feel 16 when you are falling in love. Or…if you once loved a man,and then you loved a woman, and then you loved a man, and you’re wondering if that’s ok? Well, darling. Let me normalize THAT for you. It’s OK. Love who you love. It’s all OK, and it’s all impossible to control, and it’s all an adventure that I would not miss. That’s all I wanted to say. Onward, and I love you all. LG.”
Amy Lamare is a Los Angeles based freelance writer covering entertainment, pop culture, beauty, fashion, fitness, technology, and the intersection of technology, business, and philanthropy. She is deeply devoted to her chocolate Labrador and an avid long distance runner. You can find her on Instagram and Facebook.