Yes, Elizabeth Gilbert Plotted To Murder The Love Of Her Life

Sep 10, 2025

Elizabeth Gilbert, the bestselling author of 'Eat, Pray, Love,' shares her raw journey through love, addiction, and grief. She reveals the complexities of her relationship with her late partner, Rayya Elias, challenging the romantic ideals often portrayed in her works. Liz candidly discusses her struggles with sex and love addiction, the chaos of supporting a partner in addiction, and her own path to healing and accountability. This conversation dives deep into resilience, the importance of authenticity, and the beauty of embracing imperfection.

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INSIGHT

Truth As Healing

Gilbert frames her memoir as an effort to tell the whole truth about her relationship with Raya and her own destructive patterns.
She argues truthfulness and vulnerability can liberate both the teller and the reader from shame.

ADVICE

Tell Trusted People The Whole Story

When addiction or secret life overwhelms you, stop sanitizing the narrative and tell trusted people what is really happening.
Gilbert credits calling friends and being seen as the hinge point that launched her into 12-step recovery.

INSIGHT

Naming Addiction Changes The Story

Gilbert reframes her patterns as sex-and-love addiction, not merely codependency, to spotlight shame and gendered expectations.
She notes women face extra stigma admitting sexual addiction, so naming it is part of recovery.

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There’s one thing you definitely know about Elizabeth Gilbert.

She wrote Eat Pray Love - a book that became a global phenomenon, a movie, and a blueprint for millions of women seeking transformation. It made Liz one of the most famous writers in the world.

But behind that fame was a deeper story - one Liz never told. Until now.

In her new memoir, All the Way to the River, Elizabeth Gilbert tells the truth about the love of her life, her best friend-turned-partner, the late Rayya Elias. It’s a story that’s fierce, complicated, and far from the romantic ideal many people projected onto them. It’s also about Liz’s own descent into addiction; not to drugs or alcohol, but to sex and love.

“I am a sex and love addict,” she writes. “I have caused tremendous harm to myself and others.” In this brutally honest conversation, Liz opens up to Holly about the darkest chapters of her life; the chaos of living with a partner relapsing into addiction, the shame of her own destructive patterns, and the moment she contemplated something unthinkable.

But this is also a story about healing, truth, and grace. About the kind of honesty that can save your life. And about what happens when you stop running, and finally let yourself be seen.

This is Elizabeth Gilbert like you’ve never heard her before: Unfiltered. Grieving. Funny. Fierce.
And ready to tell the whole truth.

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CREDITS:

Guest: Elizabeth Gilbert

Host: Holly Wainwright

Executive Producer: Naima Brown

Senior Producer: Bree Player

Audio Producer: Jacob Round

Video Producer: Josh Green

Recorded with Session in Progress studios.

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