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COVER STORY RIP Olivia Newton John

Grease star loses her decadeslong fight with cancer

• Bella (UK)
• 23 Aug 2022

Tributes poured in for Olivia Newton-john after she died peacefully at her Californian home last week, after battling breast cancer. The Grease star was 73 when she lost her 30-year-long fight against the stage-four disease on 8 August. Her husband John Easterling revealed the sad news, saying,

“Dame Olivia Newton-john passed away peacefully at her ranch in Southern California this morning, surrounded by family and friends. Olivia has been a symbol of triumphs and hope for over 30 years, sharing her journey with breast cancer.”

Her 26-year-old daughter Chloe, with her ex-husband

‘You made our lives better’

Matt Lattanzi, posted, “It has been my honour and continues to be my honour to be your baby and best friend. You are an angel on earth and everyone touched by you has been blessed. I love you forever.”

Hollywood stars mourned the loss of the actress and Grammy-winning singer. Olivia’s Grease co-star John Travolta, who played her onscreen love Danny Zuko, was among the first to pay tribute. “My dearest Olivia, you made all of our lives so much better,” he said. “I love you so much. We will see you down the road and we will all be together again. Yours from the first moment I saw you and forever. Your Danny, your John”.

Stockard Channing, who played fellow Pink Lady Rizzo, said, “I don’t know if I’ve known a lovelier human being. Olivia was the essence of summer – her sunniness, her warmth and her grace are what always come to mind when I think of her. I will miss her enormously.”

Kylie Minogue shared a photo of the pair together. “Since I was ten years old, I have loved and looked up to Olivia Newton-john. And I always will,” she said. “She was, and always will be, an inspiration to me in so many, many ways.”

Peter Andre, who is currently starring in the West End production of Grease, posted a throwback pic of them at the Spina Bifida charity concert in Australia, where he performed alongside her. “This photo reminds me what a warm, kind and giving person she was. She smiled constantly and spent time speaking to everyone backstage. I will never forget it,” he said.

Eastenders actress Samantha Womack revealed she had “started her own battle” with the disease as she hailed the star. Sam, who played Sandy in the 1993 West End musical, met Olivia that year. “This was the most magical of evenings. Olivia and Chloe had come to see Grease in London and we had dinner together after,” she recalled. “I was so excited and in awe, she was my childhood. I now start my own battle with this disease and am left deeply moved.”

Olivia’s last social media post, just days before her death, was

a photo of her with second husband John, which she captioned “#f lashbackfriday”. Even as her health deteriorated, she maintained her sunny disposition and her selfless nature, holding competitions for fans, thanking her supporters and raising awareness for her Olivia Newton-john Foundation Fund and other charity causes. “I want to thank you for all your support over the years. I wish you the best and send you love and light,” she said in her final video clip, posted last December.

Born in Cambridge, Olivia – the daughter of MI5 officer Brinley “Bryn” Newton-john and his wife Irene – moved to Australia when she was six. She moved back to the UK as a teenager to pursue her musical career, releasing her debut single, Till You Say You’ll Be Mine in 1966, followed by her first album in 1971. Three years later, she represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest with Long Live Love, coming fourth behind Sweden’s Abba. After making her debut film role as Sandy in Grease, she shed her country image for an edgier, pop style with songs such as Magic, Physical and Xanadu. “I just wasn’t in the mood for tender ballads,” she said of the change.

Her first diagnosis with breast cancer was in 1992, when she was 44, and she quickly became a prominent advocate for cancer research. She set up a Cancer and Wellness Research Centre in her hometown of Melbourne, before establishing the Foundation Fund in 2020. They have raised millions to support research into the disease, particularly at plant medicine, and she was recognised with a damehood in 2020. After beating breast cancer, she was diagnosed with cancer in her shoulder in 2013, but chose to battle alone this time. “The first time I talked about it, and the second time I thought, ‘I don’t really need to share this.’ It’s my life. I decided to just keep it to myself,” she said. By May 2017, she learned her breast cancer had returned and metastasised to her sacrum in the rear of the pelvis. “It’s been a part of my life for so long.

I felt something was wrong,” she said in 2020. “It’s concerning when it comes back, but I thought, ‘I’ll get through it again.’” She kept a brave face throughout the third bout of cancer. “I’ve had an amazing life so I have no complaints,” she revealed. “I really don’t. We all have something we need to go through in life. This has been my challenge.” She credited John, who she married in 2008, for keeping her strong and his unwavering support, saying, “Of course,

I had my moments, and my tears and all that. But I have a wonderful husband who supports me through those things.” However, she was realistic and faced up to the prospect of dying. “We all know we’re going to die, but I think we spend our lives in denial. It’s extremely personal so it’s hard to put into words,” she said last year. With such a legacy in not only film and music, but also cancer awareness, she will not be forgotten. 

RIP Olivia.