Olivia's Sundays At Home
Since my daughter, Chloe, was born in 1986, I’ve had to become an early riser, so the latest I get to sleep in is about nine o’clock. Depending on which of us is the most tired, my husband, Matt Lattanzi, and I will take it in turns to get up and take Chloe down for breakfast, then the lucky one gets breakfast in bed. That’s my favourite treat!
In California, where we live, there’s great fruit available all year round, so that’s a large part of our breakfast. Then we have some kind of cereal and tea or coffee. Sunday breakfast is especially good because it’s our morning for French toast. I read the Los Angeles Times on Sunday morning, and I also watch TV because I like the news shows in America. They’re a very good way of catching up on what’s happened in the world.
I like to have friends over on Sunday, or else we go to the beach at Malibu, where we have a property, and take a picnic. Most of our neighbours in Malibu are celebrities, but we don’t mix much with them. Most of my friends are in the music business, but are not necessarily big stars. My best friends are John Farrar, who produced most of my latest albums, and his wife Pat. We’ll have a large picnic at lunch-time. I’m quite health-conscious and I eat meat only when I get a real craving.
Matt sometimes goes down to-the beach to see if he can catch any fish. Then it’s back to our house which is up in the hills above Malibu, at the top of a mountain. We have about 1.2 hectares of land, and we’ve got lots of animals: four horses, seven dogs and four cats. I employ someone full-time to look after them, because I’m not there all the time and they need regular feeding and exercising and visits to the vet. That’s one of my big luxuries, having lots of animals. I also try to spend a few months of every year at my farm in Australia. America’s a wonderful place to live, and it has been great to me, but if I’m going to wave the flag for anybody it’s for Australia.
What I remember most about Sundays in Australia when I was growing up was going to church and refusing to sing in public! After Chloe was born I took almost two years off. It was wonderful! Sometimes I ask myself why I’ve gone back to work and made a new album. I suppose it’s because singing is what I do for a living.
One of the things I could work on while Chloe was little was Koala Blue, a chain of stores I helped start four years ago. The original idea was to import Australian clothes, because I was homesick. We’ve now got five of our own stores, and 11 licensed ones, and we manufacture our own clothes. I’m part of the design team. Working on Koala Blue isn’t like the music business, where I have to put make-up on and get all dolled up! It has been really fun and it’s exciting because the chain of stores is getting bigger all the time. We have opened in Japan, and I think we’ll have about 30 shops by next year.
I make sure that anything I undertake doesn’t take me away from Chloe for too long. If I have any free time I want to spend it with her I don’t want to palm her off on a nanny. I probably spend as much time with my child as most mums, maybe more. I really enjoyed the films I’ve made, but filming is very time-consuming and now it would have to be something really special to tempt me away from my family. Besides, good scripts are hard to find and musicals aren’t made very often.
My outlook on life has certainly changed since Chloe was born. I’ve become more aware of the world around me and I want it to be a better place for her. I want there to be clean air and clean water, and animals in the wild. My new album, Rumour, reflects that; there are songs about ecology, AIDS and role reversal in marriage. It’s really about women in the ’80s.
I like to keep fit and when I’ve got some spare time I go for a walk up in the hills. It’s very steep and you breathe in some fresh air as well as getting a good workout. I’m not really into heavy aerobics. I used to ride a lot, but not so much recently. I feel guilty if I take two hours to do that, when I could be with Chloe!
If Matt’s fishing has been successful, we have barbecued fish for Sunday dinner. Otherwise it’ll be something light. Chloe’s usually packed off to bed around nine, but Matt and I don’t have a set time for bed. It tends to be around midnight. I like staying up late, though, because I have some time to myself.
What I like about Sunday is that it’s the one day when I don’t set myself any tasks. I just enjoy it as it comes. I’d like to be able to say that I manage to do lots and lots of reading before going to sleep, but as soon as I open a book, I start to nod off.