Lesbian me?
Squeaky-clean Olivia Newton-John discusses those persistent lesbian rumours and her role in new movie Sordid Lives with Bradley David
In the new movie Sordid Lives. Olivia Newton-John portrays Bitsy Mae Harling, a honky-tonk singer and ex-convict who may or may not have had an affair with the woman whose scandalous death the movie revolves around.
In a recent phone interview, Newton-John explained how she landed the role. The movie’s writer-director, Texas native Del Shores, is an old friend of both Olivia and her actress sister Rhona.
“He’s so brilliant,” she says. “He is one of my sister’s best friends - they’ve been very close for a long time - so I’d known Del for a long time and had been to see his plays.”
After seeing Sordid Lives on stage, Newton-John said to Shores, “kind of in jest, ‘If you ever think of a girl to do the singer’s part, think of me’”.
“Lo and behold, he got the money together to make the movie and called me and said, ‘Well, I’ve got it together do you want to do it?’ I was very nervous about it, but I said yes.”
She was concerned about doing a Texan accent, but Shores worked with her on it and gave her a tape to listen to.
And then there was the character’s perceived lesbianism, which Newton-John knew would dredge up old rumours about her own sexuality. She thinks the mistaken idea that she is a lesbian was born in the 1970s, when she sang her hit song, I Honestly Love You, on The Tonight Show on US television. When the show’s legendary host, Johnny Carson, asked her if she had more girlfriends or boyfriends, she answered “girlfriends” (meaning “female friends,” not “lovers,” she says) - eliciting a raised eyebrow from Carson.
“The rumour kept coming back to me, and I kept wondering, “Why are they saying this about me?’ That’s the only thing that we could ever put our finger on. As if anyone would ever say anything like that on The Tonight Show! Let alone me, for crying out loud!”
Another story that did the rounds suggested that Newton-John’s former husband, Matt Lattanzi, was also gay and that the couple was involved in a unique spouse-swapping relationship with actor Christopher Atkins and his wife.
“How convoluted and horrible is that?” screams Newton-John with laughter when told of the Atkins rumor. “I’ve never heard that one. We were friends, yes, very good friends, and our children were friends and we used to go on camping trips together, just like any normal couples do. Funny, isn’t it? They’ve gotta say something about you. But that’s why I don’t really ever believe anything I hear.”
When the Tonight Show's legendary host, Johnny Carson, asked her if she had more girlfriends or boyfriends, she answered "girlfriends" (meaning "female friends" not "lovers" she says) -eliciting a raised eyebrow from Carson
Getting back to Bitsy Mae Harling, Newton-John says the character was based on an actual person from Shores’ past.
“He’s not saying who it is, because he doesn’t want to upset that person,” she laughs.
As for her singing in the movie (a soundtrack is expected to be released soon), she says she didn’t try too hard to sound like a true Texan.
“I think when you sing, there’s a kind of universal singing language, so I just kind of sang with my voice,” she says. “I play the guitar [in the movie], which I don’t do very well, but it didn’t matter for this part because it was Bitsy Mae - it wasn’t me so that was fun.”
Since her stellar recording career has included a few country albums, she felt comfortable with the genre.
“That wasn’t new for me, but what was new for me was singing those hymns,” she says. “I didn’t know those hymns. Del grew up with them in church, but they were all new to me.”
She also gets to trash it up with heavy make-up, a short bleached blonde hairdo and a tattoo.
“I had a blast” she says, “I had so much fun making this film. I loved working with Beau Bridges and Delta [Burke] and everyone. They’re so professional and so good.”
She also enjoyed working with Texas-based character actor Leslie Jordan who portrays the cross-dressing “Brother Boy”. “He’s fabulous-what a wonderful actor he is,” she says.
Newton-John has just returned from her native Australia, where she made another film with Shores. Entitled The Wilde Girls, the movie will appear on the US Showtime television network next year and marks the acting debut of Newton-John’s 15-year-old daughter, Chloe.
Busier than ever, Olivia Newton-John will soon be releasing a boxed CD set encapsulating her singing career and also plans to begin writing an autobiography, which will include the story of her triumph over breast cancer.
“This is my 30th year in the business - 30 years since I had my first hit record, which I can’t believe,” she says. “I’m so lucky I’m even still around.”