There's No Business like big business for Olivia

Forget the Oscars, Grammys, Emmys and all the rest: Olivia Newton-John has just picked up her first NAWBO and isn’t she pleased about it. And the award comes not for her talents as a singer, actress or songwriter, but for being the Celebrity Businesswoman of the Year. The Los Angeles chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners based Olivia’s nomination on “the entrepreneurial spirit and accomplishment” of her chain of Koala Blue boutiques.

And the fact that she can pick up awards for her business rather than her artistic talents has not been lost on the American-based Australian. Friends say the time is fast approaching when Olivia must decide between her careers, because she’s finding it increasingly difficult to manage both and still devote time to her husband Matt Lattanzi and daughter Chloe. “The big blow came when Olivia lost her baby last year,” says a close friend of the star. “That set her thinking that maybe she was trying to do too much. She didn’t blame her miscarriage on the workload she’s always had a tremendous capacity to work, and tremendous energy but there was this notion at the back of her mind that maybe she wasn’t looking after herself as well as she should.”

Certainly Olivia has lost a lot of her showbiz bankability that made her such a success in the late Seventies. Her recording career was then at a peak, and she looked to have a movie career carved out, thanks to the success of Grease. But it’s mostly been downhill from there. Says her friend: “Even Olivia would say that her one great success since then apart from marrying Matt and having Chloe, of course, has been Koala Blue.”