Quote · TED Talks Daily
Talks on Love Playlist (5/5): Why friendship can be just as meaningful as romantic love | Rhaina Cohen
Where this was said
A Personal Friendship That Started It All
At 5:02 · chapter starts 4:40
Before the research and the interviews, there was a friendship Cohen stumbled into — one where holding hands was a reflex, where the two friends were each other's plus-ones to parties, where she had to gently redirect her friend from grabbing her hand in the office. Cohen turns this small detail into a telling point: the awkwardness wasn't about the affection itself but about the setting, the same awkward standard she'd apply to her husband. It's a moment that signals how the line between platonic and romantic intimacy can blur in the best friendships — and it was unusual enough that Cohen knew she had to find out if others were living this way.
Platonic co-parents in Canada. A man who got sober for his friend. A woman who flew across the country and watched her friend's chest rise and fall through the night. Rhaina Cohen's interviews reveal what friendship looks like when we stop limiting it.
