Olivia Newton-John, who soared to international stardom as both a singer and movie star has died.
Oliva’s husband, John Easterling, says she died peacefully at her ranch in Southern California Monday morning, surrounded by family and friends. Oliva has battled breast cancer for more than 30 years, although the rep did not give the cause of death, although a source close to Oliva told TMZ, “After a 30-year cancer journey, she lost her battle to metastatic breast cancer.”
Oliva hit it big in 1971 with songs like “If Not for You,” and in 1973 “Let Me Be There.” She followed that up with a monster hit, “Have You Never Been Mellow.”
Her huge break came in 1978, when she starred opposite John Travolta in “Grease.” Her role as Sandy was iconic, as were several songs from the movie, “You’re the One that I Want,” “Summer Nights,” and “Hopelessly Devoted to You.”
The movie propelled Oliva to new heights, and she followed it up with movies like “Xanadu.”
Olivia’s biggest hit was “Physical” in 1981, which stayed at #1 for 10 weeks, breaking all records in the ’80’s.
Oliva was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, but it went into remission and it came back in 2013. It went back into remission but surfaced again in 2017.
Olivia, who was British but raised in Australia, married Matt Lattanzi back in 1984 … they met while filming “Xanadu.” They had a child, Chloe Rose in 1986. They divorced in 1995.
She married John Easterling in 2008. He’s the founder of Amazon Herb Co.
Olivia was 73. RIP