WHO

 

WE HONESTLY LOVE YOU

STARS AND FANS PAID TRIBUTE TO THE ICON IN HER MOVING MEMORIAL SERVICE

• WHO
• 2 Mar 2023

“I deeply loved Olivia, the woman and the icon,” Goodrem shared of her idol. The singer, actor and health advocate was first diagnosed with cancer in 1992. It returned in 2013 as a tumour in her shoulder.

As many who crossed paths with the late star would know, life with Dame Olivia NewtonJohn was “a little bit of magic” every day, according to her husband, John Easterling. Months after her passing, during the public memorial service for the star, the 70-year-old opened up about how little he knew Newton-John before their first meeting. “You have to understand, I wasn’t an Olivia fan, I didn’t know any Olivia music, I’d never even seen Grease,” he began, as the audience laughed. “But at this small theatre in Miami, she started singing ‘Pearls on a Chain’ and there was this healing moving through the audience,” he continued. “And it hit me like a laser beam in the chest that Olivia was a healer, and this was one of her mediums of healing.”

Friends, family and fans alike gathered to say goodbye to the star at Melbourne’s Hamer Hall on February 26, with a host of fellow stars also paying their respects. Video tributes came from Hugh Jackman, Dolly Parton, Pink, Nicole Kidman and Mariah Carey, with

“Olivia always sang from the heart,” Richard Wilkins, who attended the event with his son, Christian, shared in his tribute. FOR THE FANS Delta Goodrem took to the stage to sing a medley of NewtonJohn’s most popular hits. “I’m so happy to see everybody coming together on a day to celebrate someone who touched all our lives,” she told reporters outside the venue before the memorial. Goodrem chatted and posed for pictures with Newton-John’s fans.

Sir Elton John saying her “bravery and optimism” would stay with him forever. “She was such a wonderful force of nature, she was funny, kind, warm and talented, and every time we got together we laughed and laughed and laughed,” he said. “Throughout her career, I have watched her grow and grow and grow to be the artist she became.”

Meanwhile, country singer Parton admitted she was grieving alongside Australia at the loss of the singing icon. “As a country, you should be very proud and know that the whole world mourns with you,” she shared. “Now, I had the honour of singing with her several times. I considered her a great friend as well as a fellow entertainer. Olivia, to quote one of your songs, ‘I honestly love you.’”

However, it was the tributes from those who knew her best that had everyone reaching for the tissues, with the singer’s daughter, Chloe Lattanzi, revealing her heart was “broken in two” after her mother’s passing last August, following a long battle with cancer. “I feel like a little girl lost without her mother,” the 37-year-old said in an emotional speech that garnered a standing ovation from the crowd. “She was my safe space, my guide, my biggest fan and the earth beneath my feet.

“My favourite thing to do was watch her watching the birds and the flowers, smelling her roses and the joy it brought to her face was a thing of beauty. I loved making her tea and then making it five times again until I got it right,” she continued. “I loved our snuggles. I would crawl into bed with her late at night, even if I was 20 years old. I loved the way she smelled. I love how she loved fully and completely.”

 

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