A lot of famous women were friends with Eleanor Roosevelt. She got her first ride in an airplane from her friend Amelia Earhart. (The legend that Earhart was engaged in intelligence gathering on Japanese held islands is likely just that--a legend. FDR did employ friends as amateur intelligence agents. But it's not very likely that Earhart was acting as a spy on her last flight.) As for Gellhorn's suicide, she was nearly 90 and dying of cancer at the time.