Her greatest early love was producer Mike Todd, who died tragically in a plane crash not too many years into their marriage. Liz was supposed to be on the plane with him but she had the flu and decided at the last minute not to go. Obviously Burton was her other great love. She was great friends with Monty Clift (who by the way is related to Eleanor Clift) and in fact when Clift had a terrible car accident driving from a dinner party at Liz's house, Liz was first on the scene and pulled many of his teeth from his throat, probably saving his life. I doubt she was ever lonely, but like many in her era she drank to excess and took pills to ease chronic pain. She always had back pain because as a child actress she did her own riding in National Velvet, and was thrown very brutally. That started her lifelong back problems.
You can't say she didn't have a rich and varied life.
It wasn't until the last 10 years or so I really started appreciating who she was and what she'd been through. I heard Mike Todd died during the filming of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (that may be wrong). Her and Burton? Something that few people experience, but when you do, you understand the whys and whats.
She wasn't perfect, but there was and still is in her a basic kindness. Giving her money to AID's research seems to twerk some folks toast, but she's dealt with it via friends and family....so I can understand and respect the choice.
Eleanor Clift is related only by marriage. She's a mediocre-at-best "journalist" who has gotten to where she is by virtue of that last name only.