WHO 17 Feb 2022• By Paul Ewart
From her portrayal of freshfaced good girl Sandy in Grease to her chart-topping music career – a career that has seen her become one of the bestselling recording artists of all time – Olivia Newton-John is one of the world’s most famous faces. However, while the triple threat has enjoyed fame and fortune beyond her wildest dreams, with these highs there have also been earth-shattering lows.
After publicly battling breast cancer following a diagnosis 30 years ago – and undergoing debilitating chemo, and surgeries including a partial mastectomy and breast reconstruction – Newton-John made the decision to keep her second diagnosis to herself.
However, in 2017 she went public with the heartbreaking news that her cancer had reappeared for a third time. Yet despite the blow, the British-Australian singer is remaining upbeat in the face of adversity and is determined to beat it a third time with a positive outlook and a healthy lifestyle.
“I focus on the positive side of things, no matter what the challenge,” Newton John tells WHO of her cancer battle. “There are always challenges in life. Everybody has them. You just need to give yourself a moment, pick yourself up and head in the direction you want to finish in.”
Now living daily with the reality of stage four cancer, the pop icon has no interest in grim statistics or time limits. “They’ll quote statistics, which is what you do not want to focus on,” she says. “People need to be positive, give you positive feedback and not burst into tears. I think just being open to learning and growing through tough times is the way to evolve and become stronger – for yourself and others.
“I’ve always been the person who looks at the cup as half full. Positive thinking is so important to living a healthy and happy life.”
The four-time Grammy Award winner has used this upbeat attitude to help get her through the past two years of COVID-related lockdowns, too — lockdowns that saw her unable to visit her beloved “heart home” of Australia.
“While, like everyone, I wish COVID wasn’t happening, it’s given me the opportunity – for the first time in my life – to stay home,” she says. “My entire career has kept me travelling and while I loved it, I’m loving time at home with my husband, and spending more time with my daughter and my animals.”
Her home is a ranch in California’s Santa Barbara that Olivia shares with her hubby of 14 years, John Easterling. It’s here where the star, whose hits include ‘Physical’ and ‘Xanadu’ has been doing the majority of her convalescing.
“I have a lot of love, nature and animals around me,” she enthuses. “They are my healing and how I stay even-keeled. Being in nature really centres my spirit.
“Other than that, through lockdown I also learned how to bake bread – something I never thought I would do! And I created some artwork to auction off to help raise funds for my Olivia Newton-John Foundation
“I don’t focus on statistics”
A huge advocate for complementary treatments, Newton-John has been using plant-based medicines in her own battle against cancer. Handily, husband Easterling runs his own herbal company and grows cannabis for the star on their ranch.
“How lucky am I to have a plant medicine man as my husband,” she chuckles. “He has been creating special tinctures and strains of cannabis to help with my symptoms. Medicinal cannabis is something that should be available to everyone who is going through a chronic illness or pain. I hope that we can help change the stigma around this amazing healing plant.”
The actress also noted that while similar remedies aren’t yet legal in her native Australia, she hopes that the work she’s doing via her foundation will help change that. “My dream is that it will be available in Australia soon,” she says.
It’s through work like this, and through the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre she founded in her hometown of Melbourne, that the passionate performer has also become a source of inspiration for millions of cancer sufferers around the world.
“I’ve had such a blessed life that I’m grateful to be able to give back where I can,” she says.
While the pandemic has limited the mum-of-one’s movement, it hasn’t limited her productivity. In addition to ongoing fundraising, the singer has released two songs, including one with daughter Chloe Lattanzi, and worked on celebrations around the 40th anniversary of her ’80s hit ‘Physical’.
It was a milestone that tied in with her induction into the Australian Women in Music Awards honour roll. “I can’t believe it was 40 years ago!” she gushes.
Olivia also celebrated turning 73 and her approach to getting older is typical of her “glass half full” approach to life. “I think the joy of getting older is you understand life’s a gift,” she muses. “We only have the present – everything else, the past and future, we can’t control. As you get older, wisdom teaches you to focus on the ‘now’. I think I always tried to be in the moment because I never knew how many moments I’d have. None of us do.”
Aside from a career that has seen her entertain for five decades, the adored national treasure says her legacy is the work she’s done as a result of her cancer battle. “I now realise that if I didn’t go through my own cancer journey, I might not have gone on to help create awareness about cancer, nor would I have gone on to help create the my Cancer Wellness & Research Centre. No matter what successes I have had in my career that will always be my most important legacy.” (For more info or to donate, visit onjfoundationfund.org)
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