Olivia Newton-John – We Honestly Love Her

A lot of A-list celebrities hail from Down Under, including Cate Blanchette, Toni Collette, Russell Crowe, Portia de Rossi, Isla Fisher, Hugh Jackman, Miranda Kerr, Nicole Kidman, Elle Macpherson, Geoffrey Rush, Keith Urban, Naomi Watts, and Sam Worthington.

But none are more beloved by fellow-Australians than Olivia Newton-John, the first Aussie to capture American hearts with hit songs like “I Honestly Love You” (1974) and “Have You Never Been Mellow” (1975).

In 1978 Olivia was catapulted into super-stardom when she appeared in Grease as Sandy Olsson, the goody-two-shoes-girl-next-door who trades in her wholesome “Sandra Dee” image for some skin-tight, black spandex pants, red peep-toe high-heeled sandals, an off-the-shoulder top, teased hair, and horror-of-horrors, a cigarette, in order to win the heart of the leader of the T-Bird gang, Danny Zuko, played by John Travolta.

More than thirty years later Grease is still the most successful movie musical in history, and songs like “Hopelessly Devoted to You,” “Summer Nights,” and “You’re The One That I Want” still put a smile on my face as they transport me back to the happy, simpler times of my youth.

Then in 1980 Olivia sprinkled us with “Magic,” encouraging us to believe in ourselves.

The following year brought another No. 1 hit “Physical.” Although the lyrics are considered tame by today’s standards, Olivia had second thoughts back then about singing them because they were more suggestive than anything the reigning Queen of Soft Rock Music had ever done before.

It’s hard to believe the mild sexual innuendos and innocent reference to gays actually caused the video to be censored or banned in some broadcast markets

The video is as relevant today as it was in 1981. Obesity is at epidemic proportions, and we’re still fighting for gay rights. So I applaud Olivia, not only for her great sense of humor, but because she is always trying to raise peoples’ awareness about important issues.

It would take a book, not a blog post to list all the things the Grammy-winning singer/actress/businesswoman/animal and environmental activist has done in addition to selling 50 million records.

Since October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and since Olivia was a survivor of breast cancer. let’s talk about the interview I did with Olivia for Luxury Las Vegas Magazine in 2010.

The conversation was stimulating, insightful, and inspiring as we talked about different aspects of her life. One of the things that impressed me is how open Olivia was in sharing her experience with breast cancer.

She talked about finding a lump and having a mammogram, which came back negative. Then she had a needle biopsy which also came back negative. Olivia says we should listen to those early morning whispers that tell us when something is wrong with our bodies. After discussing it with her doctor, he decided to perform a surgical biopsy, which came back positive in 1992. It’s hard enough to get that news at any time, but Olivia found out she had breast cancer the same weekend her father died of liver cancer.

It’s obvious by what Olivia said that she is a nurturer, who has a reverence for nature.

I’ve always said that we are a by-product of the Earth and as Mother Earth is getting sick, we women are getting sick too. One of the problems with women is that because we’re such caretakers, we don’t take care of ourselves. My illness forced me to refocus. A therapist told me, ‘You have to wean everyone off of your breast which is your nurturing thing.’ It became clear I had to learn to put myself first.”

– Olivia Newton-John

Though Olivia had a modified mastectomy, reconstruction and chemotherapy, she wanted to take more than just a slash and burn approach. “I’m lucky I’m friends with Deepak Chopra, and I know about homeopathy, herbs, massage, acupuncture, yoga, and meditation, so I was able to integrate them into my treatment plan.

Olivia recognized that those things aren’t available to everyone so when she was asked to lend her name to a new center at Austin Health, a cancer research hospital in Melbourne, she said yes on the condition that they make those kinds of complimentary therapies available to the patients there. That’s how the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Center came to be in Olivia’s hometown of Melbourne, Australia.

In 1994, Olivia came out with an album called Gaia: One Woman’s Journey. It was the first time that she wrote an album entirely by herself. Many of the tracks had to do with cancer especially “Why Me,” which she dedicated to her dad, and “Not Gonna Give Into It,” which she wrote after a chemotherapy treatment.

Olivia also partnered with a friend and opened a retreat and spa in Byron Bay, Australia called Gaia, (Guy-ya) which means “Mother Earth.”

“My mother had just passed away, and I was bringing some of her ashes to my farm which is about half an hour from what is now the healing retreat,” Olivia told me. “My friend Greg, who was like a son to my mother, was with me. We were driving around, and we saw a sign that said Sanctuary, and it grew from this dream of a place where we could bring friends to a unique 20-room healing retreat set on 25 acres that is majestically poised on the highest point in the shire with exquisite vistas of green valleys and undulating hills.”

In April 2008, two months before Olivia married John Easterling, she organized 100 friends, celebrities, sports figures, corporate sponsors and fellow survivors to go on an arduous trek along with Great Wall of China in order to raise money for her Cancer and Wellness Center.

“It was life-changing, difficult, challenging, illuminating and scary,” Olivia says. “Everyone who went with me felt the same way. We spent three weeks in China, a country we were unfamiliar with, challenging ourselves to walk a 141 miles in all kinds of weather, from ice and snow to sun scorched deserts. In some places the wall was broken or the path was quite steep.

“I liken it to the cancer journey in that it was the unknown. We didn’t know what to expect. Every time we completed a segment, we’d feel a great sense of accomplishment. It was like going through the treatment. It was incredibly challenging. People would walk together and share their cancer stories and their feelings. It was very healing to know that others had gone through the same thing.

“In addition to the physical toll that walking took each day, it was sometimes equally challenging emotionally as everyone dealt with their own experiences with cancer or that of a loved one. I got sick, as a lot of us did, but I had to keep walking because I was leading everyone. Every morning we would sing my song “Magic.” You have to believe we are magic, nothing can stand in our way.

“It was also terribly difficult for me because John’s brother’s wife passed away from brain cancer while I was in Beijing. I wanted to be there to support John and his brother, but he understood that I needed to stay. I was really torn, but it reinforced why I was there.” Olivia and friends raised $2 million for the ONJCWC.

In 2010, she participated in the breast cancer docudrama 1 a Minute, along with other celebrity survivors like Melissa Etheridge, Diahann Carroll, Kelly McGillis, Jaclyn Smith, Namrata Singh Gujral, William and Daniel Baldwin, whose mother is a cancer survivor, and Deepak Chopra.

The disease claims the life of one woman every 69 seconds, which translates into more than 465,000 deaths each year across the country. As a way to help women with early detection, Olivia offered The Liv® Breast Self-Exam Aid—a latex-free, polyurethane, touch-enhancing tool that reduces friction between the fingers and the skin, and allows the fingers to glide smoothly across the breast with greater sensitivity, making it easier for women to feel a lump during a self-exam.

Olivia Newton John’s cancer returned in 2013 as a tumor in her shoulder. Once again she put up a brave fight, but sadly, she lost the battle on August 8, 2022.

Read my entire Up Close and Personal with Olivia Newton-John interview.