It’s been three years since the legendary Grease star Olivia Newton-John was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer, but the 72 year-old actress and singer wants fans to know that she is “feeling great.”
These days, Newton-John is loving life, as she is getting ready to watch her only daughter Chloe Lattanzi walk down the aisle in a “small wedding” later this year.
“I’m so lucky to still be doing all these things,” Newton-John told People Magazine. “I don’t think I imagined living this long! I feel very blessed.”
Newton-John is also enjoying her life with her husband, John Easterling, with whom she recently launched the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund in order to continue to support research into plant medicine for cancer.
“I’m very lucky to be married to a wonderful man who is a plant medicine man, and he has great knowledge,” she said. “Now he’s growing medicinal cannabis for me, and it just has been wonderful. It helps me in every area.”
Newton-John has always been close to her daughter, but the two of them have gotten even closer in the past year while quarantining together in California amidst the pandemic.
“I worked my whole life, and the longest period I can remember being home was my pregnancy with Chloe and the first year or two of her life,” Newton-John explained. “So it’s been wonderful reconnecting with my baby. She is my reason to be.”
Last month, Newton-John and her daughter released their duet “Window in the Wall,” which was sent to the former Xanadu star via email by a woman she’d met years ago.
“Out of the blue, she sent me an email saying, ‘I found this song, and I think you need to sing it,'” she recalled. “I thought, ‘Oh gosh, I know it’s not going to be good. How am I going to tell her?'”
When Newton-John listened to the song, however, she knew instantly that she had to sing it.
“It moved me to tears,” she said. “It’s a very healing song. I thought, ‘This is very special, and I want to sing it with Chloe.'”
When Newton-John asked Lattanzi to record it with her, the 35 year-old said, “Yes — no questions asked.”
“I was flattered and honored,” said Lattanzi. “She could have asked anyone, and she asked me. That meant the world to me. It’s my dream job — I get to spend time with my favorite person.”
As Lattanzi prepares to get married to James Driskill, her fiancé of ten years, she’s remembering a piece of advice her mother gave her that goes, “Don’t change for anybody because that’s not love.”
Newton-John is just happy to see her daughter happy, and she can’t wait to see them get married.
“She picked a good one,” Newton-John said. “So I haven’t had to say much!”
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