6 minute read
The one that we
In London with Aussie singing partner Pat.
Magical milestones
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Olivia lost out to ABBA at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974. Olivia and John’s chemistry was electrifying in Grease.
l John was not only a talented performer but had a gift for reinventing herself. She went from country star to a pop princess and fi lm icon, then a fi erce humanitarian and health campaigner. Here’s a look at her many achievements.
1948 Olivia Newton-John was born in Cambridge, England. Her dad Bryn was a former MI5 offi cer and her mum Irene was the daughter of Nobel Prize-winning German physicist Max Born. The family emigrated to Melbourne in 1954.
1965 After singing on variety TV shows, where she was known as “Lovely Livvy”, Olivia won a talent show, where the prize was a trip to the UK. There she recorded a song but it failed to chart.
1966 Olivia travelled around Europe with an Australian friend, Pat Carroll, performing as a duo. Pat’s visa ran out
d h d l offi ce fl op but later became but Olivia stayed on, working a cult classic. Olivia began a on her solo career. romance with dancer Matt Lattanzi after meeting on set.
1971 Olivia released her fi rst solo album, If Not For You, and had hits with the title track and its follow-up Banks of the Ohio. In 1973, her single Let Me Be There was a hit on the pop and country music charts, and won her a Grammy for Best Country Female.
1974 Representing the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest, Olivia came fourth behind winners ABBA. Later that year, her single I Honestly Love You became a worldwide smash, including going to number one in the US and winning her two more Grammys. After a run of hits, such as Please Mr Please, her career stalled in 1977. 1981 Olivia released her album Physical. The provocative lyrics prompted some radio stations to ban it. Olivia countered this by fi lming a spoof exercisethemed video that turned it into an aerobics anthem and popularised headbands as a fashion accessory.
1984 Olivia married Matt. After a series of miscarriages, their daughter Chloe was born in 1986. Subsequent albums failed to achieve the success of her earlier ones and she began to focus more on humanitarian causes close to her heart, such as animal rights.
1978 Grease hit the big screen and quickly became one of the most successful movies of all time. 1992 Olivia was primed for a comeback with the release of a greatest hits compilation album when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, aged 44. Her dad died the same weekend she got the news. She recovered after treatment, becoming an advocate for breast cancer research.
1995 Olivia’s marriage to Matt ended. A year later, she met cameraman Patrick McDermott, and they dated
With boyfriend Patrick, who mysteriously diasappeared.
on and off for nine years. A year after breaking up, Patrick disappeared while on a fi shing trip.
2008 Olivia married American businessman John Easterling, who runs a herb company, in a secret Incan ceremony in Peru. In the same year, she opened the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Research Centre in Melbourne. As well as providing treatment for cancer patients, it funds research into treatments and cures for the disease. 2017 Olivia revealed that her cancer had returned. She campaigned for the legalisation of medicinal cannabis to ease pain and set up the Olivia Newton-John Foundation to research holistic therapies for cancer. In 2020, she was made a Dame for her services to the entertainment industry and cancer campaigning.
2022 John announced that his wife, Olivia Newton-John, died peacefully on August 8. She was 73.
Dancer Matt and Olivia had baby Chloe in 1986. The last photo announcing Olivia’s death on Instagram.
Chloe and John at the annual Olivia Newton-John Wellness Walk.
National’s deputy
‘chaos’ at home a
When Nicola Willis arrives at Parliament in the mornings, she’s usually the politician wearing a dash of bright red lipstick with a messy ponytail pulled back in haste.
As a busy mum-of-four, the deputy leader of the opposition has little time to spend getting her look just right. Instead, what time she does have in the morning is spent sipping strong black coff ee and perhaps snatching a moment to read a book with her youngest daughter as her consultant husband Duncan Small rallies the clan to get ready for school.
Then, after giving quick goodbye kisses to her brood, Nicola darts out the door and drives 10 minutes from the family’s Wellington home to Parliament, where at times she works until midnight.
“Sometimes I think, if only I could clone myself and have the person who does the full-on parliamentary thing and then the person who gets to do the full-on motherhood thing,” laughs Nicola, who stepped into the role of the National Party’s deputy leader just four years after becoming an MP.
Says the Karori-based mum of James, 12, Harriet, 11, Reuben, nine, and Gloria, six, “I defi nitely have moments where I wonder if I’m doing what’s right for my kids, or if I’m giving too much to politics, and it can be really confronting and diffi cult.
“That’s where it’s important for me to know that what I’m doing is purposeful and making a diff erence. If I’m sacrifi cing time with my children, it has to be worth it.”
On the morning of our photoshoot, the Wellingtone their house is spotless. Reuben greets everyone at the front door with a polite handshake and introduction, while a homemade lemon cake sits on the kitchen bench. But Nicola admits the idyllic scene is a far cry from the usual chaos of their busy home.
“Earlier today, my daughter said, ‘Mum, I think this is the tidiest the house has ever looked,’” says Nicola, 41, whose passion and get-itdone attitude saw her replace Simon Bridges as National’s
leader gives us a peek her at nge it and why she’d never cha
r
Christopher Luxon.
fi nance spokesperson in March. “When my mother heard I didn’t have anything to off er people during the photoshoot, she dropped in the cake. The people around me, like my parents who live fi ve minutes away, and Duncan, who’s my rock, have been really important in enabling me to juggle family life and politics.”
Two decades ago, Nicola was a successful university debater and debating team captain when she met fellow Wellingtonian Duncan in the Victoria University debating l b Sh ld ’ h l b
“It’s quite fashionable now,” quips Duncan, 42, h i l k d just very ahead of my time!” A year after meeting, h i b l
notice the tall, red-headed guy who had confi dence and charisma – as well as jeans that sat an inch too short above his ankles. head of government and industry aff airs at Air New Zealand, where he and Nicola fi rst met National leader Christopher Luxon. “I’m and when Duncan moved to Canberra, Australia, to complete his master’s degree in strategic studies, Nicola headed to Christchurch to
