Olivia Newton John’s family has shut down rumours the Grease star has ‘weeks to live’.
Olivia Newton John, who is battling cancer for the third time, gave her niece Tottie Goldsmith permission to speak publicly about her health after US and Australian publications claimed unnamed sources told them her body was “shutting down”, she had only “weeks” to live, and was hanging on for her daughter Chloe’s wedding.
Goldsmith ended the speculation by telling Seven Network the stories were untrue.
“You can rest assured she is going nowhere and in really good health. A sick rumour,” she said.
She also posted a photo of herself with Newton John with the caption: “Just giving you the heads up that Livvy is in good health, so let’s leave that distressing rumour where it belongs.”
Olivia with her husband, John Easterling, at their beloved Californian ranch.
Olivia was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, when she was 44. She had just lost her dad Bryn to cancer in the same week. Following eight months of chemotherapy and a partial mastectomy, Olivia was cleared of the disease.
Pronounced cancer-free, she went on to open the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre in her home city of Melbourne – a centre that treats cancer patients and also carries out research and clinical trials.
“I believe when you go through something difficult, even something as dramatic as cancer, that something positive will come of it,” Olivia said.
In 2013 the cancer returned and Olivia underwent treatment for a tumour on her shoulder. However she told no one about it other than close family and friends.
“I thought, ‘This is not something I need to share with people. It’s my life and I want to keep it to myself,” she later revealed.
However, in 2017 she did give fans and update on her health, announcing the cancer had returned for a third time. The then 68-year-old actress had been suffering from terrible back pain and put up with it for months, thinking it was sciatica. But the source of her pain was a tumour at the base of her spine.
“It didn’t occur to me that it could be the return of the cancer until a year went by and I was still in excruciating pain. I had an MRI and we found out it was in there,” she recalls.
To help with the pain, Olivia’s husband, John Easterling, introduced her to medicinal marijuana. She credits it with having helped her pain to a point where she could walk more freely than when she was first diagnosed with the tumour.
“People have this vision from the 60s of people just sitting around, you know, getting stoned. It’s not about that. This plant is a healing plant,” she explained.
“I think we need to change the vision of what it is. Because it helped me greatly. And it helps with pain and inflammation.”
Olivia, who is releasing a memoir called Don’t Stop Believin’, says she would be lying if she said she never gets scared about her future.
“There are moments; I’m human,” she confesses.
But she prefers to “focus on other things and not thinking about myself all the time. There are other people out there doing much worse than me. I am a very privileged person and I am aware of that. I am one of millions on this journey, and I see it as part of my mission. I’m still treating it naturally and doing really well.”
Olivia with daughter Chloe.
Olivia shares a ranch with husband John in Santa Barbara, California. Her daughter Chloe Lattanzi, who is very close to her mum, is set to marry fiance James Driskill at the ranch.
In a touching tribute to her mum, penned in 2017, Chloe revealed, “My mum is my hero, always has been and always will be.
“From as far back as I can remember I knew Mum was special, not because of who she was, but because of the life and love she gave me.”
