 In 1931, Garbo befriended the writer and acknowledged lesbian Mercedes de Acosta, whom she met through Salka Viertel, and, according to Garbo's and de Acosta's biographers, began a sporadic and volatile romance.De Acosta, a theosophist, was interested in esoteric spirituality.According to biographer Moon Laramie, her relationship with de Acosta prompted Garbo's interest in both theosophy and the occult.