NEW IDEA

 

John & Olivia’s SECRET ROMANCE RIDDLE!

THE PAIR’S ENDURING LOVE IS AT THE CENTRE OF A NEW TELL-ALL

• New Idea
• 1 Jun 2026

Olivia Newton-john’s decades long love affair with her Grease co-star John Travolta has been laid bare in a revealing new biography.

In Matthew Hild’s newly released A Little More Love: The Life and Legacy of Olivia Newton-john, the author interviewed those closest to the singer and actress, who sadly passed away on August 8, 2022, after a long-fought battle with breast cancer, aged 73.

“I don’t quite have the smoking gun, but I think the preponderance of evidence is pretty darn suggestive,” he told People magazine of what he turned up.

Among the stories he uncovered was one from actress Didi Conn, who played Frenchy in Grease. Speaking with journalist Stephanie Nolasco, she said she believed John, now 72, had a genuine attraction to Olivia and there was no faking their on-screen chemistry in the 1978 film.

‘They weren’t acting … it was real’

In fact, they shot an alternate ending to the movie in which their characters, Danny and Sandy, indulged in a “juicy” kiss.

“They weren’t acting at that moment … it was real, it really was,” Didi insisted.

While the pair stayed in each other’s orbits for the next four decades – even re-teaming for 1983 rom-com Two of a Kind, which further sparked romance rumours – ultimately, Hild notes that John’s devotion to Scientology is what stopped anything from developing between them.

“More than 20 years after Grease was filmed, a musician who had been married to a Scientologist joined Olivia’s band and became friends with her,” he wrote. “He says that Olivia and Travolta ‘were very, very close. Almost that close.’”

He recalled a conversation the pair had, in which the Australian star asked her bandmate if she would be expected to become a Scientologist if she were to marry the actor.

Though he insisted it “would not have been mandatory”, he said it “would have been encouraged, put it that way”. Olivia simply replied, “Thank you. That’s all I want to know.”

In 2018, Olivia said on the No Filter podcast she felt the pair not giving in to their real-life attraction only added to their on-screen chemistry.

“I think it was good, because I think it kept the tension there and the chemistry,” she said. “It might have been a real disaster had we decided to date or we had a falling out or something.”

She added that both were “with other people” during filming and “respectfully, it just didn’t happen”.

Upon her death in 2022, John shared a touching tribute to his “dearest Olivia” on Instagram. “I love you so much,” he wrote. “We will all be together again. Yours from the moment I saw you and forever! Your Danny, your John!”