I remember he’d said to you ‘Be gentle with me’ Blessings to all of you, and may you all find your way.” The comment provoked a quick retort from another fan: “So I think you can swiftly jump off from that moral high horse and in future remember that you can not take the sting out of your comment by ending it off with “blessings”. I’m sad that his heart and wellbeing appear to be overlooked in this thread of congratulations. This idea that everybody knows deep down does a great disservice to individual journeys.”Īmong Gilbert’s digital well-wishers, there were those who expressed sadness about the end of her marriage to Jose Nunes – whom she wrote about meeting in Eat, Pray, Love and its sequel Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage. “But it does happen, people haven’t necessarily been holding out until middle age. “People find it difficult to believe that I could fall in love with a woman out of the blue,” she said. Gooding speaks from experience: she had been married for 16 years “to a very wonderful man” and had two sons when she fell in love with another woman, but said she feels very protective of her husband and children and previous relationship. Women entering a different stage in their lives have often explored their own identity and sexuality because they “possibly care less about what people think and they feel more confident about who they are”. Women coming out later in life is not a new phenomenon, said Ruth Hunt, head of LGBT rights organisation Stonewall. Cynthia Nixon – who played Miranda in Sex and the City, was in a heterosexual relationship for 15 years before she fell in love with Christine Marinoni while actor Portia de Rossi was married to a man before she married comedian and talkshow host Ellen DeGeneres in 2008. Later-in-life lesbians – women who identify as lesbians or declare same-sex feelings in their 30s, often after serious relationships, marriage and children – have come more into the public consciousness in recent years, with a string of high-profile women publicly leaving heterosexual relationships for female partners.īritish retail guru Mary Portas was married to a man for 14 years and had two children before marrying and having a child with fashion editor-at-large Melanie Rickey. My heart is exploding with love and it’s coming your way.”

“Tears of joy, anguish, truth, human-ness, sorrow, pain, fear, beauty, love. “This made me cry, like many of your posts,” wrote one fan. Many sought to answer the author’s call for “whatever extra love you might be carrying around in your hearts right now” to be sent in her and Elias’ direction.

Elizabeth gilbert jose nunes