breathedout | We were two people who helped each other through our lives (Reply)

[Sontag and Leibovitz] met in 1989, when both had already established notability in their careers. Leibovitz has suggested that Sontag mentored her and constructively criticized her work. […] They never lived together, though they each had an apartment within view of the other’s. Leibovitz, when interviewed for her 2006 book A Photographer’s Life: 1990-2005, said the book told a number of stories, and that “with Susan, it was a love story.” While The New York Times in 2009 referred to Sontag as Leibovitz’s “companion”, Leibovitz wrote in A Photographer’s Life that, “Words like ‘companion’ and 'partner’ were not in our vocabulary. We were two people who helped each other through our lives. The closest word is still 'friend.’” That same year, Leibovitz said the descriptor “lover” was accurate. She later reiterated, “Call us 'lovers’. I like 'lovers.’ You know, 'lovers’ sounds romantic. I mean, I want to be perfectly clear. I love Susan.”

—From the Susan Sontag Wikipedia article

I somehow had not known about the decades-long Susan Sontag/Annie Leibovitz friendship/love affair/creative collaboration before last night; nor did I expect to run across an articulation of basically my ideal relationship on a Wikipedia page I was browsing for research purposes, but I have been heart-eyesing over this paragraph nonstop for the last fourteen hours.

We were two people who helped each other through our lives. The closest word is still friend.