The Madonna of her day grows up (about A Mom for Christmas)
HOLLYWOOD Picture Madonna in 10 years, when she has matured beyond the point of wanting to make videos that border on the pornographic. Maybe she’s a mom by now, driven to create something wholesome for her own daughter to enjoy.
That’s exactly the spot occupied today by Olivia Newton-John, the Madonna of her day, the singer-actress whose “Let’s Get Physical” was as controversial in her 1970s heyday as Madonna videos are today.
“Grease” gave me the kind of status that Madonna has now.” says Newton-John. 42, relaxing in her sprawling Malibu home as 4 year-old daughter Chloe romps nearby. “I don’t have that status anymore.”
Now she would rather spend time at home with Chloe, husband Matt Lattanza and their horses than make the concert-tour circuit. And she would rather make G-rated entertainment than anything risque.
That’s why she stars in “A Mom for Christmas,” an NBC TV movie airing at 9 p.m. Monday.
“This is a movie Chloe can watch and there aren’t too many of those on nighttime TV.” says Newton-John. “It’s kind of a cross between Mary Poppins’ and ‘Cinderella.’”
“I did this because I thought it was very sweet,” she said. “This part really appealed to me, playing a mannequin who gets to be a mom for two weeks but has to be back in the store by Christmas night”
By Thomas D. Elias, Scripps Howard News Service