OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN TRIBUTE - 9 News (August 9, 2022)
Olivia Newton-John Tribute - 9 News (August 9, 2022)
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00:00Good evening. For 50 years, Olivia Newton-John dazzled us with her music and her natural
00:06warmth and charm. For 30 years, she was also dealing with breast cancer. Her death at the
00:12age of 73 has brought great sadness to her family, friends and fans around the world,
00:19while also reminding us of the great moments in her career, those songs so many of us will
00:24have been singing and humming today.
00:28She only needed one name, Olivia.
00:37The bright smile, those sparkling eyes and the voice.
00:46Olivia Newton-John caught the eye of the world when, as a 29-year-old, she slipped into 1950s
00:53Rydell High as Sandy from Australia in the 1978 mega-hit musical, Grease.
01:03She was the goody-goody and along with cool cat Danny Zuko, John Travolta, the world fell
01:09in love and a star was born.
01:11In close-ups, you could sort of feel how warm and friendly she was. I mean, it came across.
01:18She had star power and it came right across to the audience.
01:25The black pants, the big hair. Women wanted to be her and men wanted to be with her.
01:31As for those tights, she kept them and they still fit.
01:36About a year ago I was kind of dead into trying them on.
01:39And?
01:40And I got them on, amazing.
01:42As for those tights, she kept them, and they still fit.
01:55About a year ago, I was kind of dead into trying them on, and I got them on, amazingly.
02:02Grease proved to be an enduring party playlist for generations.
02:14A soundtrack of classics, and Hollywood wanted more Olivia.
02:19In 1980, it was Xanadu.
02:28And in 1981, the good girl gave us Physical.
02:41Olivia Newton-John was born in the UK.
02:43Her family migrated to Australia when she was six.
02:47At 14, she joined an all-girl group with three friends.
02:51I used to sing for fun in a coffee lounge.
02:54I was still at school, but on Fridays and Saturdays, I used to go in there and sing
02:57along.
02:58And somebody came in and heard me sing and said, why don't you go in for this talent
03:01contest that was on television?
03:11As a schoolgirl, she did.
03:13Winning talent shows, sing, sing, sing, a slingshot into a lifelong career.
03:26In the 1970s, she broke into the country scene in the United States.
03:38She covered John Denver, bewitched Dean Martin, performed alongside ABBA, and starred at Eurovision.
04:07But pop would make her a superstar.
04:24A partnership born on set transformed into a lifelong friendship.
04:36Today from John Travolta, my dearest Olivia, you made all of our lives so much better.
04:42Your impact was incredible.
04:44I love you so much.
04:45We will see you down the road and we will all be together again.
04:50Yours from the moment I saw you and forever, you're Danny, you're John.
04:55And from another T-bird.
04:57She was very, very much one of those people who was in fact that light of the love and
05:04the light that I'm talking about.
05:05She glowed everywhere she went and with everything she did.
05:10Along with the highs, there were the lows.
05:13In 1984, Olivia married her longtime boyfriend, actor Matt Latanzi.
05:19They had daughter Chloe, but divorced a decade later.
05:23She was by Chloe's side as she battled an eating disorder.
05:27And mystery surrounded what happened to her partner, Patrick McDermott, who went missing
05:33during a fishing trip off California in 2005.
05:38It's been long rumoured he faked his own death and is living in Mexico.
05:42The pain will always be there.
05:44I'll always miss him.
05:45I love him.
05:46I miss him.
05:47But, you know, I can't do anything about it.
05:48We don't know what happened and I don't know if I ever will know what happened.
05:50In 2008, a new marriage to businessman John Easterling, her partner in life and a life
05:57in charity.
05:58Today, from her daughter Chloe, a tribute of family photos, of a life where our Olivia
06:05was just mum, celebrating her mother's career.
06:08Peace is the time, is the place, is the motion.
06:12Peace is the way we are feeling.
06:16Which, like the rest of us, came with some embarrassing mum moments.
06:23And last year, a duet.
06:27Looking for a window in the wild.
06:38When Sydney hosted the Olympics, it was our Olivia in a reunion with long-time friend
06:44John Farnham, who welcomed the athletes to the Games.
06:48They would perform together for decades, one of the final times in 2020, raising money
07:01for bushfire victims.
07:10Today, from her close friend John Farnham, behind the iconic smile was a tenacious fighter,
07:17a beautiful voice and a loyal friend.
07:20And as Australia woke up to the news, there was no hiding the pain.
07:25Your relationship with her was so beautiful.
07:28No, no, it's alright. It's alright. It's the depth of feeling.
07:31There aren't too many people that you can do a Zoom.
07:34We can feel it.
07:35Zoom thing.
07:36Yeah.
07:37From Delta Goodrum, who played Olivia in a 2018 miniseries, the whole world will feel
07:42this heartbreak today because the entire world felt Olivia's unmatched light.
07:47A force for good, a force of nature, strong and kind.
07:52And from Kylie, a precious memory lined up with her childhood idol to meet Princess Diana.
07:58She was and always will be an inspiration to me in so many ways.
08:04A life of music, but sadly the other constant in Olivia Newton-John's life for the last
08:1130 years has been breast cancer, telling Oprah in 1992 she'd beat it.
08:17I don't like the word remission. I like to say it's gone, it's over, it's out of my life.
08:21And that's the way I think.
08:23But in 2017, cancer returned for a third time.
08:28It left her in excruciating pain. It spread to her bones.
08:32And last night, Olivia lost the fight at age 73.
08:37There's nowhere to hide since you pushed my love aside.
08:43Olivia Newton-John picked up four Grammys and sold more than 100 million records.
08:49But she leaves behind so much more.
08:52Generations of fans who adored her.
08:55None more so than in the heart of Hollywood, Olivia Newton-John's star on the Walk of Fame.
09:02She meant everything to me. She was my inspiration.
09:06My favourite actress, my favourite singer, everything, just to pursue my dreams in acting.
09:11And now that I've found a way that she passed away, it just breaks my heart.
09:15She's just such a huge part of all of our lives in Australia.
09:18She was a wonderful, compassionate, beautiful human being.
09:21And I hope she's at peace finally and she's left an incredible, incredible mark.
09:27It's really sad.
09:29Among the mourners, the casting director of Grace.
09:32How are you feeling, Joel?
09:34Well, I'm doing the best I can to not do this.
09:37No, she was incredible.
09:41She was just as lovely on the inside as she was on the outside.
09:45Letting a scene on a secret very few people knew.
09:48She initially was not interested in Grace.
09:51She had been embarrassed by a movie she had made earlier before she became a huge star here.
09:56She asked for a screen test so that she could see herself and John
10:02and decide whether she wanted to do the movie or not.
10:05Olivia Newton-John died at her ranch in Santa Barbara, California.
10:09As she entered her last battle with cancer, in one of her final interviews,
10:14she revealed the words she lived by.
10:17This too will pass. Life is never the same.
10:20We're moving and changing all the time. You've just got to go with the flow.
10:23If you can, don't resist because it'll take you down with you.
10:27Oh, summer.
10:38Olivia. The music. The films.
10:41What a ride it was for all of us.
10:44Lizzie Pearl, Nine News.
10:49Well, Olivia Newton-John's death will leave a gap in the world of show business,
10:54but her work supporting cancer research will carry on for a long time.
10:58It's also a tribute to the great fighting spirit that lay behind the smile.
11:04Singer, songwriter, actress and activist.
11:10Olivia Newton-John's cause was cancer.
11:13Thank you so much.
11:17She gave people hope. She gave people an understanding
11:21that they could look to the future and have hope.
11:24Her own diagnosis nearly 30 years ago was met with courage, determination and endless optimism.
11:31You've had so many battles, Olivia. How are you not broken?
11:36Oh, goodness. Come on.
11:38I've had and I'm having an amazing life.
11:41From one interview in 2017 to another two years later in 2019,
11:46Olivia was never the victim, always the survivor.
11:50I'm so lucky that I've been through this three times and I'm still here. I'm living with it.
11:54But the tabloids in America had all but written her off.
11:58The National Enquirer's front page story claims the end is near.
12:02To read that you're dead or that you're dying is a very strange experience.
12:06The rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated.
12:09In fact, it was her will to live and to help others to do the same that became her purpose.
12:16A wellness and research clinic in Melbourne was founded in her name.
12:22It's a culmination of many years and many dreams and I'm proud, I'm humbled, I'm so grateful.
12:31And today flowers and tributes to the love and light of the clinic.
12:36She absolutely loved that she was a part of bringing this to a reality. It was her dream.
12:41That dream to incorporate a wellness, whether it be music, yoga or meditation, to the treatment of cancer.
12:48Olivia Newton-John, just an amazing person. Just her positivity.
12:54Julie Bailey is a breast cancer survivor. Her daughter Rachel, who was 19 weeks pregnant,
12:59when she too was diagnosed and checked in to the wellness centre.
13:03Your eyes light up because you drop her off and you see her name up there and I think, oh, she's in good hands.
13:10For her to have created that for us in Melbourne is amazing.
13:15In October it will be 10 years since the centre opened its doors.
13:19They will celebrate with the annual walk, but the starter will be missing.
13:24Olivia Newton-John refused to be intimidated by cancer or let it rule her life.
13:30I let it go and tell it to leave and talk to my body to heal itself
13:38and don't try to make it that.
13:41In her last photo she shared with the world, it was an Olivia at peace.
13:46But despite all her magic, the ending we all wanted was not to be.
13:52Damian Ryan, Nine News.
13:55Our US correspondent, Alison Petrowski, has spent the day speaking with fans in Hollywood.
14:00She joins me now live from Los Angeles. Sally, what's the feeling been there?
14:06Well, Pete, I've seen thousands of people come to her star today.
14:10Many Americans hearing our accents and coming up to us saying, we are so sorry for your country's loss.
14:16Many Australians here in Los Angeles hearing the news and coming down here feeling compelled to pay tribute to the great star.
14:23No words at the moment, Pete, on the funeral here in California.
14:27The family simply asking to respect their privacy at the time.
14:30They also say instead of flowers, people should consider donating to Olivia's foundation fund.
14:35She was a remarkable woman, Pete, one of our country's greatest exports, loved at home and also here in Hollywood.