Photo: Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images
Olivia Newton-John’s life was full of triumphs and tribulations.
After contending with health issues, experiencing the heartbreaking disappearance of a boyfriend and losing loved ones to cancer, Newton-John opened up to PEOPLE in 2016 about soldiering through tragedy and getting to “the best time” of her life.
But shortly after postponing her tour in May 2017 because ofsevere back pain, she wasdiagnosed with breast cancerthat had metastasized to the sacrum. Her response was typically optimistic: “They’re all very positive,” a source close to the four-timeGrammywinner told PEOPLE at the time.
The “Physical” singer made the most of the time she had left,raising funds and awareness for her cancer foundationand even recording a Christmas album with Grease costar and old friendJohn Travolta.
When the British Australian actress and singerdied of breast cancerat age 73 on Aug. 8, 2022, 30 years after she was first diagnosed, she left behind atimeless capsule of classic pop hitsand etched herself in the hearts of those who adored her as Sandy Olsson.
“My dearest Olivia,you made all of our lives so much better,” Travolta captioneda nostalgic photoof Newton-John following the news of her death. “Your impact was incredible. I love you so much. We will see you down the road and we will all be together again. Yours from the moment I saw you and forever! Your Danny, your John!”
Here’s a look at the heartbreaking moments and biggest challenges theGreasestar grappled with throughout her life — and how she coped with them.
Olivia Newton-John on her first cancer diagnosis, in 1992:
When Newton-John received her first diagnosis in 1992, she had recently lost her 5-year-old goddaughter to a childhood cancer called Wilms tumor and her father, Brinley, to liver cancer. “It was all at once.Everything just came at me,” she told PEOPLE in 2000. “You can’t help but feel despair at some point. It’s overwhelming.”
Despite her heartbreak, Newton-John refocused her experience and remained optimistic, telling PEOPLE, “I visualized [the chemicals] as gold liquid going into my body, healing me, rather than what it really is, which is poison.”
This way of thinking allowed her to see herself as a cancer “thriver” rather than a “survivor.”
“Survivor sounds like someone clinging onto a lifeboat to me,“she toldTodayin 2017. “A thriver is someone who’s already off the boat and on land.”
Once in remission, Newton-John became a cancer research advocate and eventually raised enough funds to help build theOlivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centrein Melbourne, Australia.
“When I went through breast cancer, I wrote an album calledGaia,” she said about finding strength in music. “Everyone at some stage of life goes through loss. We’re also connected as human beings. We feel the loss of others. We’re hoping it will help people connect and share and feel.”
When she had breast cancer in the ’90s, the star “did massage and meditation and yoga” to help “keep my spirit positive,” she told PEOPLE in October 2016. Now, her wellness center offers patients all the things Newton-John had done.
Olivia Newton-John at the walk in September.Scott Barbour/Getty
Olivia Newton-John on losing her beloved sister Rona in 2013:
Opening up about the “shocking time,” Newton-John told PEOPLE the loss was “jarring,” despite being “prepared” for Rona’s death.
“No one is ever prepared for when the person actually dies,” she said. “Your sister is someone you can share things about the family that no one else understands. I don’t really have that now, so that was really hard to get used to. I would pick up the phone with something to tell her about my brother or relatives or someone that we’d known forever, so that was really odd to let go of that.”
Newton-John started a brain tumor fund in Rona’s name after her death and kept her focus on “getting to see an end to cancer” through her wellness and research center in Australia.
Olivia Newton-John on finding love again after ex Patrick McDermott mysteriously went missing:
In June 2005, Newton-John’s boyfriend of nine years,Patrick McDermott,mysteriously went missingduring a boating trip. “I’ve been through cancer and divorce. Nothing compares to this,” she told PEOPLE in 2006.
Years after McDermott’s disappearance, reports alleged McDermott had faked his death andwas discovered to be living in Mexico. Those rumors caused Newton-John further distress: “It just stirs it up again. It creates that ‘What if’ again.”
David Livingston/Getty.
After mourning McDermott’s mysterious vanishing, Newton-John found happily ever after with her businessman husband,John Easterling.
“I dated a little bit, but Iwasn’t expecting to fall in love with him, and thenbam!” she told PEOPLE in October 2016 of their early days of dating. “I’m very lucky I have a wonderful, beautiful husband who is just so loving and fantastic. I always tell my friends you’re never too old to find love. I found the love of my life at 59 going on 60! I’m grateful.”
Olivia Newton-John on her daughter Chloe Lattanzi’s struggles with body dysmorphia and addiction:
In November 2013, Newton-John’s daughter — who had an eating disorder from age 15 and eventually began self-medicating with cocaine and alcohol — opened up about the difficulties of growing up in the spotlight. “Fame totally messes you up. I don’t blame my mother for my problems, but I would never want to be famous or raise a child of my own around the cult of celebrity,” Chloe LattanzitoldThe Mail on Sunday. “I don’t want to say anything to hurt my mother. I think it was very difficult for her. She’d never faced anything like that before and she didn’t know how to deal with it.”
On Oct. 26, 2016, Lattanzi appeared onThe Doctorsto discuss her previous body image issues. “When I was in the height of my body dysmorphia, I had a whole bunch of fillers,” she said about plastic surgery. “I look back at myself as a teenager, and I’m like, ‘What a beautiful young woman. What was I thinking? Why was I so insecure?’ "
That same month, Newton-John told PEOPLE she and Lattanzi “have a great relationship” and said she’s “very proud” of her daughter. “She’s doing a lot of things that she loves to do,” the “You’re the One That I Want” singer said. “She’s an adult so I don’t even like to bring up all the old stuff because she’s moving through it. She’s strong.”
Lattanzi and Newton-John remained close throughout Lattanzi’s experience and Newton-John’s diagnoses; after the 2017 announcement that her mother’s cancer had recurred, Lattanzishared more of her mom’s uplifting wordson Instagram, writing, “My mom is fine and the one thing she told me is to keep being creative positive and take my mind off anything negative.”
Olivia Newton-John and Daughter Chloe Lattanzi.
The tworecorded a duet together, “Window in the Wall,” in 2021.
In February 2023, Lattanzipaid tribute to her momatthe late pop star’s state memorial servicein Australia. “My heart is broken in two, the other half is with my mama,” she said. “I know she’s holding it for me until we meet again.”
Lattanzi added: “I stand here before you so desperately, wanting to feel strong and confident and speak eloquently, but the truth is I feel like a little girl lost without her mother. She was my safe space, my guide, my biggest fan and the earth beneath my feet.”
Olivia Newton-John on contending with rumors that she was close to death:
In January 2019, the actressaddressed reports that she had just weeks to live, joking in a video posted to Instagram, “The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”
“There were all these things I was going to do for my birthday, but God had other plans,” she told PEOPLE. Despite this, Newton-John remained thankful. “I never say, ‘Why me?’ I was like, ‘Wow, I’m inmyhospital that I’d dreamt of building for people to have rest and peace, and there I was getting the best care,” she said. “It was quite magical.”
The singer said that her focus was on healing and celebrating every happy milestone that came her way. (In 2021, she rejoiced to PEOPLE that she could attend Lattanzi’s planned wedding: “I’m so lucky to still be doing all these things. I don’t think I imagined living this long! I feel very blessed.")
“Everyone has difficulty in their life,” Newton-John said in 2019. “I try to live in the moment and enjoy right now, which is all we have.”
source: people.com
