You remember the ending. The boat in Bali. The sunset. The feeling that after three hundred pages of crying on bathroom floors and eating carbs in Italy, Elizabeth Gilbert had finally, mercifully, found "the one."
That man was Jose Nunez, though the world knew him better as Felipe.
For millions of readers, Jose wasn't just a guy; he was the personification of the "happily ever after" we all wanted to believe in. But real life doesn't fade to black when the book ends. While the movie version gave us Javier Bardem and a tidy resolution, the actual story of Elizabeth Gilbert and Jose Nunez is much more complicated, messy, and—honestly—human than a bestseller could ever capture.
The Bali meet-cute wasn't the whole story
When they met in Indonesia, Jose was a Brazilian-born importer, a man who seemed to offer the stability Gilbert lacked. He was older, he was settled, and he was patient.
They didn't just fall in love and disappear into the jungle. They moved back to America. They settled in Frenchtown, New Jersey. Together, they ran a massive East Asian import warehouse called Two Buttons. It was a literal physical manifestation of their shared life—filled with Buddhas, carved furniture, and the spoils of their travels.
But there was a catch.
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Gilbert’s second memoir, Committed, actually centers on the fact that neither of them really wanted to get married again. They were both divorce-scarred. The only reason they tied the knot in 2007 was a messy legal situation with U.S. immigration. Basically, the government forced their hand. If Jose wanted to stay in the country, they had to marry.
Why the marriage to Jose Nunez actually ended
By 2016, the cracks were showing, though not in the way people expected. There wasn't some scandalous affair with a stranger. Instead, the "very personal" reasons Gilbert cited for their split turned out to be a profound internal shift.
In July 2016, Gilbert posted on Facebook that she and Jose were separating after twelve years together. Fans were crushed. They felt like the "ending" of Eat Pray Love had been a lie.
But here’s the thing: you can’t freeze a person in time just because you liked the chapter they were in.
The real catalyst was Rayya Elias. Rayya had been Elizabeth’s best friend for fifteen years. When Rayya was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic and liver cancer, the floor fell out from under Gilbert’s world. She realized in a sudden, sharp moment of clarity that she wasn't just "best friends" with Rayya. She was in love with her.
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She couldn't stay with Jose and be honest with herself.
To his credit, Jose Nunez handled the situation with what Gilbert described as "tremendous honor." It’s easy to cast the ex-husband as a villain or a victim, but the reality is they were two people whose paths had simply diverged. They sold Two Buttons in 2015, a year before the public split, which in hindsight was the first sign that the life they built together was being dismantled.
The 2025-2026 Perspective: Life after the "Felipe" era
Fast forward to today. If you're looking for where Jose is now, he’s mostly stayed out of the spotlight. He didn't write a tell-all book. He didn't go on a press tour to bash his famous ex-wife.
Gilbert, meanwhile, has been incredibly vocal about the "messy" years that followed. In her most recent reflections—including her 2025 memoir All the Way to the River—she doesn't paint a pretty picture of the end. She’s been open about the "addiction" to love and the chaos of Rayya’s final days.
She hasn't erased Jose from her history, though. She’s actually noted in recent interviews that she still holds him in "highest reverence."
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It’s a weirdly mature take for a celebrity breakup.
What we can learn from their timeline
If you're going through your own "change of heart," the Gilbert-Nunez saga offers some pretty blunt lessons:
- Timelines aren't failures. Twelve years isn't a "failed marriage" just because it didn't last fifty. It was a chapter that served its purpose.
- External pressure is a bad foundation. Marrying for a visa—as they did—is a heavy weight for any relationship to carry, even if the love is real.
- The "Happily Ever After" trap. We often demand that authors stay the person they were when we first read them. Gilbert refused to do that, even at the cost of her "brand."
Moving forward with your own story
Honestly, the fascination with Elizabeth Gilbert and Jose Nunez usually stems from our own fear that love won't last. But if you look at Gilbert’s journey since, she’s moved toward a relationship with herself rather than seeking another "Felipe."
If you're feeling stuck in a chapter that doesn't fit anymore, remember that the woman who wrote the book on finding love was also brave enough to admit when that love was over.
Next Steps for Your Own Journey:
Stop looking for a "Jose" to save you. If you're in a period of transition, focus on radical transparency with yourself. Evaluate your current relationship—not based on how it looks to others, but on whether it allows you to be your most authentic self. Sometimes, the most "Eat Pray Love" thing you can do is admit that the journey has changed directions.