I Waited so Long for this pregnancy
Mrs Lattanzi is pregnant. That means Olivia Newton- John, former goody-goody turned sex-siren, former disaster area for lasting relationships, has finally settled doing what came naturally. And all aglow she told Carl Arrington about the anxieties and serenity of her latest role.
Olivia Newton-John suspected the truth. She'd been craving avocados for days, despite the fact that she loathes them. At the chemist she bought one of those over-the counter home pregnancy tests and followed the directions. The colour of her urine sample changed. At 36, (she's since turned 37) she felt this was it. Her first reaction was to tell her husband. But Matt Lattanzi 26, whom she married in December last year, was in Oregon, visiting his family, while she was in Malibu, California. So it wasn't until around, dinner-time that she went to her bedroom and punched the numbers on her white desk phone. She teased Matt with small talk and then, By the way,
she nonchalantly, using a common American expression that alludes to laboratory pregnancy tests, the rabbit died
.
There was a moment of stunned silence and a duet of laughter and disbelief I was glowing,
recalls Matt who is the eldest of Italian-American family of 10. My family was especially excited - the baby will be the first grandchild with the Lattanzi name.
Matt caught the first flight home a few days later a doctor confirmed Olivia's diagnosis. All that getting Physical had finally paid off in a big way!
The baby is so exciting I hardly dare think about it,
says Livvy
, nestled on a comfy floral couch next to Matt. I waited so, so long for this, and now I can't remember why I waited.
The couple look at each other, kiss and huge like teenagers. In fact, Olivia raised Hollywood eyebrows by marrying a man a decade younger. She dismisses gossip jokingly. Age isn't important because we act like 12-year-olds,
she says. O1ivia had no reservations about marriage, despite the fact that she wed an actor whose career in such forgotten films as My Tutor, Grease 2, or as the gigolo seduced by a brazen Jackie Bisset in Rich and Famous, fell far short of star status. They met in 1979 on the set of Xanadu Olivia starred, Matt played a bit part, after six years of living together the couple got married in an intimate at-home ceremony. It rained,
she says, which is supposed to be good luck.
Olivia's friend Nancy Gould-Chuda thinks it was. This marriage is different,
she says. Matt isn't at all star struck and gives Olivia exactly what she needs.
Olivia agrees: I knew Matt was right man and I wanted to start family, but I was terrified of getting married. It finally just felt the natural thing to do, I'd never felt that way before.
Matt doesn't recall proposing formally. All of a sudden we were making wedding plans,
he recalls. They honeymooned in Paris, where Matt got her a pearl and diamond engagement ring. We've never did things in the right order,
he says laughing.
However, they planned the baby to follow in old-fashioned sequence. I've been lucky so far,
Olivia says. I haven't really been sick all.
Like thousands of women who are pregnant, Olivia has had amniocentesis and ultrasound scans. I was sure everything was okay, but at my age you have to do them for peace of mind,
she says. But Olivia and Matt declined the opportunity to find out the baby's sex in advance. We want that surprise when it happens,
she says. In the meantime, Olivia has given up her vigorous workout regime. I live a pretty healthy life anyway,
she says but now I'm making a special effort to eat right, stay mellow and be much more careful,
Gentle pursuits, like gardening and knitting are in. I've started with a floppy sweater for me and am working my way up to bootees,
she says, chuckling at the incongruity of her new hobbies with her rock-siren image. For this Matt must take some of the credit. Of the woman who was so wholesome they called her the singing milkshake he once said: I think I've brought out the female animal in her.
And Livvy has often stated I'm too old to be innocent.
The racy photographs on the album sleeve of Soul Kiss, her first since Physical four years ago, seem to prove the point. The lyrics are similarly provocative if the title track with its double entendres doesn't incur the wrath of members of the new anti-porn groups in Washington, the steamy menage a trois theme of Culture Shock is bound to. It might get banned Salt Lake City,
says Olivia, referring to a Utah radio station that outlawed Physical, but I can't imagine anyone else getting upset. I know plenty of people who have been in that (threesome) situation who'll get a giggle out of it.
Even prospective motherhood has not kept Olivia OBE from writhing sensuously in videos to promote the tunes. Britain, though, won't see Olivia doing her sultry stuff until the spring. The release has been delayed, a pregnant Olivia could hardly promote the steamy material over here. On a more maternal level, she is adding a couple of rooms to their already spacious Malibu home. The doctor's estimate is Valentine's Day. So we want to be ready,
says Olivia. But we're superstitious and don't want to do too much before he or she is born.
Old superstitions haven't stopped Olivia's mother in Australia from making little smocked dresses. The only practical advice I've given Olivia is to get exercise, stay calm and rub olive oil on her stomach to avoid stretch marks,
she says.
Matt though concerned with his wife's career, maintains his own friends and interests. He knows members of what is called the Brat Pack like Madonna and her husband Sean Penn. But he spends most of his in free time with two of his brothers, Steve and Chris. I'm an outdoor nut,
he says. Other mutual friends are mostly local Aussie expatriates, and the Lattanzis attend only enough industry functions to remind people we are still around.
Born in Cambridge, Olivia was brought up in Australia, and that's where the couple go most summers. Says Olivia: The nearest little town is six miles away, and we are accepted as locals. I can do my own shopping. We're thinking about moving there to raise our family the air is clean, the food is pure and there would be fewer hassles in being famous.
Olivia thinks two children, a boy and a girl, would be ideal. When Two Of A Kind (Olivia's second film with John Travolta) fizzled out a couple of years ago, it was to Australia that she escaped. I really needed time to think about what was important,
she says. I decided I had let my career control my personal life too much, I'm not going to let that happen again.
Perhaps she was counting the cost of some of her broken romances, including those with her manager: Lee Kramer, Bee Gee brother Andy Gibb and The Shadows' Bruce Welch, to whom she was engaged.
Though she's working on a script (The Perfect Specimen) with her friend Nancy, and Matt has a Blake Edwards comedy called Crisis due next year, future career plans are vague. But Matt, who may have been criticised for soft-porn scenes in My Tutor, is at heart still the son of an oil refinery foreman with his own hold on essentials: The greatest thing happened a few weeks ago,
he reports. I put my ear on Livvy's stomach and it kicked me.
By Carl Arrington