Olivia Newton-John has postponed her U.S. and Canadian tour after discovering she has cancer, the singer announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
The 68-year-old had previously suspended the first half of her tour due to severe lower back pain from what she thought was sciatica. However, doctors have since diagnosed her with breast cancer, which has spread to her back or ‘metastasized to the sacrum.’
“Olivia Newton-John is reluctantly postponing her June U.S. and Canadian concert tour dates,” the statement begins. “The back pain that initially caused her to postpone the first half of her concert tour, has turned out to be breast cancer that has metastasized to the sacrum.”
The statement adds that the star will now complete a short course of photon radiation therapy and natural wellness therapies before returning “better than ever” later in the year.
“I decided on my direction of therapies after consultation with my doctors and natural therapists and the medical team at my Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre in Melbourne, Australia,” she says in the statement.
The Australian star was first diagnosed with breast cancer some 25 years ago.
More than two decades ago, Olivia Newton-John was diagnosed with breast cancer on the same weekend that her father passed away.
She was just 43, and her diagnosis sent shockwaves through women who had fallen in love with the gorgeous Australian as they followed her journey to Hollywood superstardom.
After undergoing chemotherapy and a mastectomy the star was finally given the all clear.
Speaking with Woman’s Day Australia about her very public battle with cancer, she said: “When I was diagnosed [with cancer], I really didn’t want to go through chemotherapy.”
“I thought I would be the first person who died from a treatment. I knew I would have to undergo surgery, but chemotherapy was something I was really afraid of.” she said.
The mother-of-one has since devoted much of her life and time to supporting breast cancer charities and to raising awareness for early detection. She has even set up an eponymous cancer and wellness centre in her hometown of Melbourne.
