despite her resolution against having sex with women, wright disclosed in her memoir that, by her early thirties, she had had sexual relationships with two women. she had her first same-sex experience at age 19 — "it was the first time i'd ever had a girl's body pressed against mine"—and the affair lasted the better part of a year. from 1993 to about 2004, wright maintained a committed relationship with a woman she described as "the love of my life", a woman she met shortly after winning her first recording contract. the era of their relationship overlaps wright's rise to chart-topping stardom. they maintained their relationship even though her partner subsequently married a man, and even while both women briefly had heterosexual relationships. during their final five years they lived together, the relationship suffered numerous breakups and reconciliations due to the strain of being closeted, the fact that "neither one of us thought it was acceptable to be in a gay relationship", and wright's prolonged absences while performing on tour nationally and internationally.