My life's just wizard in Oz
Olivia Finds Paradise After Year Of Hell
0LIVIA Newton-John has emerged from a year of hell and found her Xanadu.
The singer actress who starred in the 1980s musical of that name has retreated to a haven far from her old life jetting between Malibu, Los Angeles, Britain and Australia.
But is took a string of disasters which nearly killed her to bring some stability into the hectic life of British born Olivia - who danced and warbled her way to Hollywood stardom alongside John Travolta in Grease and Saturday Night Fever in the late seventies.
She now lives in a remote spot in the emerald hills behind Byron Bay, on Australia’s eastern coast. She and her husband, actor Matt Lattanzi, have turned an avocado farm into an environmentally friendly paradise.
She has even handed in her British passport to become an Australian.
“I came here as a child Ii the early sixties,” she says. “My mother and father became Australians when they moved here, but I’ve always travelled on my British passport - it was easier in the early days.”
Health
“Now it’s important for me to be an Aussie”.
This is the sanctuary where Olivia has nursed herself back to health after a terrible year.
First came the death of her father. Professor Binley Newton-John.
The same day, she learnt that she had breast cancer- leading to seven months of chemotherapy and a partial mastectomy.
While she was having treatment, her American clothes company Koala Blue collapsed.
Then her eight year old daughter Chloe’s best friend of died of cancer after a year-long battle with the disease.
Olivia picked herself up and now radiates good health, looking more like 30 than her 45 years.
But it didn’t end there. Earlier this year there were rumours that her marriage to Matt - 11 years younger - was on the rocks.
“People were out to destroy us but Matt and I are closer than ever,” she says with sigh.
She says of her nightmare year - “Everyone goes through something in their lives, but for me it all came at once.”
Music
“Facing death helps you focus on the important things - your family and your health. I am healthy. I feel good. But there is a chance the cancer could return.”
Olivia has recently starred in two TV series but her heart still belongs to music.
She has just written an album, Gaia, which helped her come to terms with the heartache in her life.
By Leigh Reinhold