Finding Themselves at the "Eat Pray Love" Premiere

Finding Themselves at the "Eat Pray Love" Premiere - The journey of discovery that is "Eat Pray Love" finally ended at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York on Tuesday, Aug. 10, as the film of the best-selling novel premiered.

Both the author, Elizabeth Gilbert, and her on-screen persona, Julia Roberts, smiled for the cameras and greeted the men that helped make the cinematic version of Gilbert's quest for spiritual meaning come to life. There was Javier Bardem, whose appearance in "Eat Pray Love" comes late in the flick, as our heroine finishes her quest in Bali; Billy Crudup, who plays Gilbert's first husband, whom she leaves behind in New York City; and Richard Jenkins, the American that helps her understand the spiritual path while in India. Writer-director Ryan Murphy, who also happens to produce and create the television show "Glee," joined in the festivities as well, both at the theater and the after party held at the Metropolitan Club.

Roberts, who showed off her ultra-slim physique in a black mini-skirted suit, insisted to reporters at an earlier press conference that she actually did gain weight during the "eat" section of the film, set in Rome.

"Ryan keeps telling people that I put on ten pounds!" she chuckled. "It was a little less than that, but I loved every pound. And everyone said, 'Oh, it's going to drop right off in India,' but I didn't get that memo. That didn't happen."

However much she may have gained on the shoot, it is gone, for the 42-year-old actress looked as slim as ever, perhaps because of the spiritual effects that the journey of the movie had on her. She reportedly has embraced Hinduism, and explained that her personal journey through the vagaries of Hollywood stardom has taken her to a place of calm enlightenment.

"I definitely knew that my life would continue to evolve until I found that place where I could fully occupy and live in, which is the home that I have now," Roberts, the married mother of three, explained.

"I think that if you've gotten to a place in your life where you have found a capacity to eat and nourish yourself, and love and nourish your life in that way, that somewhere along the way you've figured out your own identity and how to pray and relate to an energy or a creation that's more than you. Otherwise you can't accomplish those other things."

Others on hand from the film included Christine Hakim, Mike O'Malley, Arlene Tur, Jennifer Salt, T.J. Power and David Lyons. Fans of the book who joined the party were Phylicia Rashad, Shaun Robinson, Gail Simmons, and Josh Brolin. ( yahoo.com )