Following the death of best-friend-turned-partner, Eat Pray Love author Elizabeth Gilbert didn’t have to look too far for her next beloved — turns out, her newest “sweetheart” had been there all along.
On Monday, which Gilbert considered “a beautiful spring day in [her] corner of the world,” the self-proclaimed “seduction “addict” decided to introduce her followers to the “beautiful man” with whom she has fallen in love: photographer Simon MacArthur. Per the caption next to a photo of the cuddling lovers, MacArthur was a “beloved friend” of her late partner Rayya Elias, and the two of them “adored each other forever like siblings.” This, Gilbert proclaims, “means the world to [her].”
Even though the relationship is new, she really, really loves him:
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.
In the caption, she also starts a conversation about normalizing all types of love: when you’re heterosexual, when you’re queer, when you’re a widow, when you’re middle-aged. “It’s all OK, and it’s all impossible to control, and it’s all an adventure that I would not miss,” she writes, before signing off with a heart emoji.
So, she says to her followers: “if you see me walking around with a tall handsome man on my arm, don’t be buggin’.”
She — “your girl” — is happy, okay???