Patricia Cornwell

===Relationships===
On June 14, 1980, shortly after graduating from [[Davidson College]] in [[North Carolina]], she married one of her English professors, Charles L. Cornwell, who was 17 years her senior.<ref name="Mecklenburg County, NC Register of Deeds">{{cite web|url=http://meckrod.manatron.com/Marriage/SearchEntry.aspx|title=Mecklenburg County Register of Deeds Web Access|work=manatron.com|access-date=June 20, 2015}}{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Professor Cornwell later left his tenured professorship to become a preacher. In 1989, the couple separated, with Patricia retaining her married name after the divorce.

In 2006, Cornwell married [[Staci Gruber]], an associate professor of psychiatry at [[Harvard University]].<ref name="Kidd">{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/dec/07/patricia-cornwell-interview|title="I created a monster": Interview with Patricia Cornwell|journal=The Guardian|last=Kidd|first=James|date=December 6, 2008|access-date=June 20, 2016}}</ref> However, she did not disclose news of her marriage until 2007.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/11/26/bocornwell126.xml | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128140400/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/11/26/bocornwell126.xml | url-status=dead | archive-date=November 28, 2007 | work=The Daily Telegraph | location=London | title=Patricia Cornwell: 'Finally, I feel rooted somewhere' | date=November 26, 2007 | access-date=May 21, 2010}}</ref> Cornwell later stated that turning 50 had made her see the importance of speaking out for [[civil rights|equal rights]] and spoke of how [[Billie Jean King]] had helped her come to terms with talking about her sexuality publicly.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.advocate.com/news/daily-news/2009/10/20/patricia-cornwell-out-40-million |title=''Interview with The Advocate'' October 20, 2009 |publisher=Advocate.com |date=October 20, 2009 |access-date=March 17, 2014}}</ref> She lives with Gruber in Massachusetts.<ref>[https://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2008-12-01-patricia-cornwell_N.htm "Crime pays quite well for Patricia Cornwell"] ''USA Today'' December 3, 2008</ref><ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3669542/Patricia-Cornwell-Finally-I-feel-rooted-somewhere.html "Patricia Cornwell: 'Finally, I feel rooted somewhere'"]  November 26, 2007</ref>

Since childhood, Cornwell has been friends with the family of [[Evangelism|evangelist]] [[Billy Graham (evangelist)|Billy Graham]] and his wife [[Ruth Graham|Ruth Bell]], often serving as the family's unofficial spokesperson to the media.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/12/AR2006121201338.html|title=A Family at Cross-Purposes: Billy Graham's Sons Argue Over a Final Resting Place|first=Laura Sessions|last=Stepp|newspaper=Washington Post|date=December 13, 2006}}</ref>  She also wrote an authorized biography of Ruth Bell Graham. Cornwell was previously a personal friend of former President [[George H. W. Bush]], whom she referred to as "Big George", spending a number of weeks at the family's summer retreat in [[Kennebunkport, Maine]].{{cn|date=April 2024}}