The 47-year-old popular novelist, who split from her husband, Jose Nunes, after nine years of marriage in July, shared the news of her newfound love on Facebook.
In a lengthy post Gilbert revealed that Elias terminal diagnosis uncovered her true feelings for her longtime friend.
Elias was recently diagnosed with incurable pancreatic and liver cancer.
"Something happened to my heart and mind in the days and weeks following Rayya's diagnosis. Death - or the prospect of death - has a way of clearing away everything that is not real, and in that space of stark and utter realness, I was faced with this truth: I do not merely love Rayya; I am in love with Rayya," she wrote.
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