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The Marie Forleo Podcast

455 - Elizabeth Gilbert: Women Only Learn THIS Too Late — The Secret to Money, Success & Purpose

The Marie Forleo Podcast

Marie Forleo

Self-improvement, Education

4.71.8K Ratings

🗓️ 9 September 2025

⏱️ 73 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What happens when love becomes addiction and life completely breaks you open? In this raw conversation, Elizabeth Gilbert shares her journey through grief, codependency, and recovery - revealing how our most devastating experiences can become our greatest teachers. You'll learn the difference between healing and fixing, why familiar pain often feels safer than growth, and what it truly takes to rebuild yourself from the ground up. 

@elizabeth_gilbert_writer is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love and Big Magic, with over 25 million books old worldwide. Her work spans memoir, fiction, and nonfiction - including City of Girls, Committed, and her new book All the Way to the River - and has been translated into more than 30 languages. A three-time National Magazine Award finalist, Elizabeth's honest, soulful storytelling has made her one of the most beloved voices of our time. Follow Elizabeth on Instagram and subscribe to her Substack, "Love Letters."

WHAT'S COVERED IN THIS EPISODE:

05:12 Codepency, relapse, and what real healing looks like

10:02 Visitaiton and Connection Beyond Death

15:06 The Unexpected Turns of Life

24:46 Soul Contracts and the Cosmic Boardroom

29:45 The Quest for Lava: Love, Approval, and Validation

33:53 Recovery and the Journey to Wholeness

38:31 The Marriage Benefit Imbalance

41:50 How to Remove Yourself From the Overgiving Trap

45:30 The Importance of Self-Reserve

51:24 Living with Urgency and Authenticity

56:07 Lessons from Darkness Retreats

Thanks for listening! New episodes drop every Tuesday. Make sure you hit the follow button to get notified. <3 

If you prefer video or want closed captions, you can watch all our episodes on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/marieforleo

COME SAY 'HI!'

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MORE RESOURCES FOR YOU:

FREE AUDIO TRAINING: How to Get Anything You Want (Free Audio Training) https://www.marieforleo.com/how-to-get-anything-you-want 

ALL THE WAY TO THE RIVER: Grab your copy of Elizabeth Gilbert's new book https://amzn.to/4nem1ZN

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review! <3 It really helps us get encouraging and actionable advice to entrepreneurs and creatives who need to hear it most!

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Can we introduce?

0:00.8

This is Pepita.

0:01.8

So for those of you guys listening on the podcast, you really got to go watch it on the YouTube because Pepita is beyond. Pepita is sitting in my lap right now. Oh my God. I know this is mostly an audio format, but for the video aspect of it. For the YouTubers, the people who are smart or watching this. He is my dog, otherwise known as my actual human child.

0:21.0

Yes. Yes, scientists don't understand how it was possible that this six-year-old rescue dog was born out of my actual body, but she was. She was. Oh, I sometimes feel that way about Kuma. I'm like, oh, I have never given birth to a human child, but this is my boy. This is my baby. Yes. So she'll be joining us today.

0:38.5

Oh, we love that.

0:39.1

And I'm so happy to see you.

0:41.0

And I'm so happy. child, but this is my boy. This is my baby. Yes. She'll be joining us today. Oh, we love that.

0:39.1

And I'm so happy to see you and I'm so happy to be able to talk to you. And I was so happy to get

0:45.4

this book in your hands as fast as I humanly could. Yes. Yes. So we, there's so much to talk about

0:52.0

and I love that we get to go to all the places.

0:55.6

So let's set the stage just with the title alone all the way to the river.

1:02.9

What does that mean?

1:05.5

And it sort of sets us up to get into all the other juiciness of what you've shared with

1:10.3

us in this gift.

1:11.8

Well, okay, so a little background about the story.

1:14.9

This is a book about my love story and my harrowing journey with my best friend turned partner,

1:23.0

Rea Elias.

1:24.4

We had 17 years of friendship and then 18 months of a love story toward the end of her life.

1:33.0

She was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic and liver cancer. And at that point, I was unable

1:37.8

anymore to pretend that she wasn't actually the love of my life. And so I left my marriage

1:44.1

to be with her and it left my marriage to be with her.

1:44.8

And it was my intention to be her caregiver until she died.

...

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