Royal star The secret

Husband John eased Olivia’s pain in the latter years.

Courageous t HOPE L DEVO TO OL

Movie fans fell in love with the singer as Sandy in Grease and honestly loved h

It’s a beautiful photo that emanates pure love. The throwback shot, showing a blissful-looking Dame Olivia Newton-John wrapped in the arms of her husband, John Easterling, was posted on her Instagram account on August 5.

Sadly the next post, three days later, was from John, 70, announcing that Olivia, 73, had passed away peacefully at their ranch in California, surrounded by family and friends.

“Olivia has been a symbol of triumphs and hope for over 30 years, sharing her journey with breast cancer,” he wrote.

The latter years of her life were overshadowed by the disease, but Olivia faced up to her health issues with incredible courage and determination. In an interview in 2020, she said in many ways, cancer defi ned her more than her stellar career as a singer and actress.

“I see it as my life’s journey,” she said. “It’s given me purpose and intention, and taught me a lot about compassion.”

But while dealing with the containing all the stories I illness – and helping others hear about when people saw with it through the cancer it and what it has meant to wellness research centre and them. I never get tired of that. the foundation that bear her It’s really wonderful and name – may have been her I defi nitely feel very grateful driving force in recent years, for the experience.” she will be remembered as After the huge success of the sweet-voiced country/pop Grease, the British-born, singer who became a global Australian-raised songstress superstar thanks to her role underwent her own sweetas Sandy in the classic movie to-sexy transformation, musical Grease. ditching her real-life Sandra

Olivia nearly didn’t say yes Dee image to become a sultry to the part – she leather-clad was worried that at 29 she was too old for the ‘You made all of our siren. Her music morphed into chart-topping character and that if the movie fl opped, it would lives so much bett er. Your soft rock, with her 1980 smash hit Physical scupper her singing career. But producer impact was incredible’ becoming the top-selling song of the ’80s, Allan Carr according to roped in leading man John Billboard magazine. Travolta to talk her around During her career, Olivia and she became much beloved sold over 27 million albums, not just by the generation who had fi ve number ones, fi rst saw it back in 1978, but won four Grammys and others to come. was named the 44th most

In an interview celebrating successful artist of all time the fi lm’s 40th anniversary by Billboard. in 2018, Olivia said, “I After taking time off in could probably write a book the ’80s to be a full-time mum to her daughter Chloe Lattanzi, 36, and then getting her fi rst diagnosis of breast cancer in 1992, she poured a lot of her time and energy into humanitarian and health causes, including lobbying the Australian government to approve the use of medical cannabis for cancer patients to help with pain.

Olivia’s cancer returned in 2013, shortly after her older sister Rona died from brain cancer. She was also in a car accident around the same time and chose to keep the news about her health private. She hoped treatment would keep the disease at bay, but it reappeared four years later. This time the cancer was stage four and had spread to her lower back. After suff ering a fracture to her lower spine, she had to learn to walk again. Medical cannabis, grown for her by her husband, was crucial when it came to dealing with the pain.

She talked openly about her experience of cancer, refusing to call it a fi ght “because I don’t like war”.

Instead of railing against

o the end ESSLY TED IVIA Olivia her ever since Newton-John 1948-2022

her misfortune, she was accepting of it as part of her journey and vowed to cherish the time she had left.

“Every day is a blessing,” she said. “You never know when your time is over. We all have a fi nite time on this planet and we just need to be grateful for that.” Donna Fleming

Heartfelt tributes

Olivia with (clockwise from left) daughter Chloe, and friends Elton and Dionne.

Known in showbusiness circles for her sunny nature, the tributes that fl owed in after Olivia’s death painted a picture of a kind, thoughtful and much-loved woman.

Her Grease co-star John Travolta was one of the fi rst to pay tribute on social media, writing, “My dearest Olivia, w y m w s

t a y He added, “Yours from rst moment I saw you

Singer Dionne Warwick remembered Olivia as “one of the nicest people I had the pleasure of recording and performing with”, while Brooke Shields described her as a “true class act” and “a wonderful mother and wife, who was grace and strength personifi ed”.

Sir Elton John’s words were also touching. “Olivia was a beautiful and courageous woman who I never heard complain about her illness. I will miss her so much.”

One of the most poignant tributes came from Olivia’s daughter Chloe before she lost her mum. A couple of days before Olivia died, the 36-year-old shared a photo of the two of them together with the heartfelt caption, “I worship this woman. My mother. My best friend.”