mercredi 9 août 2023

The Australian Women's Weekly

Olivia Newton-John

The Australian Women's Weekly

10 Aug 2023

Olivia Newton-John was just 17 when she first appeared in The Weekly – a wide-eyed teen in a sleeveless, white go-go dress.

Five years later, with the release of her debut album,

If Not for You, she became a cover star. And we marked her 70th birthday with a final cover for The Weekly, captured at her retreat near Byron Bay. Olivia was always our golden girl.

In a career-long friendship, we celebrated all her transformations, from country-pop sweetheart to leatherclad Sandy in Grease. And her awards – four Grammys, 10 American Music Awards, an Emmy, Oscar and Golden Globe nominations and more. But it was not just Olivia’s gentle soprano voice that won our hearts. It was the way she lived with courage, kindness, a rare honesty and authenticity, embodied in her dedication to the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre. “I have such a blessed life,” she told The Weekly, and she passed those blessings on.

“She was an angel, that one,” her friend Gregg Cave told us, just days after Olivia succumbed to the cancer that was her great challenge for the last 30 years of her life.

“She was a giver, and she gave with all her heart.”