Writer Jenni Gilbert recalls her meetings with the Aussie film and music star.
Olivia Newton John has always been absolutely delightful. The first time I interviewed her for
Woman's Day was at her mansion in Malibu and she wasn't long over breast cancer. While I was supposed to be there to chat about Save The Koalas she was quite open about her battle with the disease and how she was determined to beat it.
Plus, I met Colette Chuda, who was her daughter Chloe's age, then around 5. Collette was a close family friend, who had kidney cancer and subsequently died. Olivia wrote a song for her and started a fund to raise money for children's cancer research.
And then another time Olivia decided she wanted to come back to live in Australia with her husband Matt Lattanzi and Chloe. They had this lovely property outside Ballina — it was beautiful hinterland but it was a very modest house.
We sat out on the veranda and we were drinking herbal tea and they seemed to be quite a normal family. But Chloe who was about seven at that stage, turned to me and said, "It's really tough being a kid of a superstar."
Olivia looked at me and rolled her eyes in horror and I think she was a little embarrassed by the whole thing. At that point Olivia had been in remission from breast cancer for some time but she was still very conscious of her health — it was very much herbal tea and an organic diet.
She seemed very much at peace but having gone through that experience of breast cancer, but it would always be very much in the back of your mind. I think she had come back to Australia to ground herself again.
Unlike other Aussie celebrities who may forget their Aussie roots once they're international stars, Olivia comes back here a lot to support breast cancer charities and the koalas and her new wellness centre at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne — she still maintains a really strong presence here. She's not ashamed to be an Australian."
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