Olivia's back on top
Olivia's survived a broken marriage, business failure and cancer but has fought back with wine and song
Is there a happily ever after for Australian superstar Olivia Newton-John? She would certainly like to think so. After a battle with breast cancer, a traumatic marriage breakdown from actor Matt Lattanzi in the early ’90s and the loss of both parents, she is now quietly enjoying life with a long-term love in Los Angeles.
Her beau is 48-year-old LA-based cameraman and lighting gaffer, Patrick McDermott. They met eight years ago in Los Angeles while shooting a TV commercial and have been an item ever since.
Olivia rarely talks about the relationship but admits that she is happy, healthy and hopelessly devoted.
“We have a lovely relationship,” she says, giggling down the phone line from her Malibu home in her inimitable, sweet child-like voice.
“But yes, I like my independence and it is still too soon to talk marriage.” Olivia, 55, admits the years of personal hardship have not been easy but she remains hopeful of that happily ever after, Cinderella story.
“Nothing’s forever, but I’m very happy,” she says. “In fact, it is fantastic right now. Everything’s great.”
Olivia has not only triumphed in her personal life-she is fighting her business critics by resurrecting the Koala Blue brand and turning an earlier business disappointment into an undisputed success.
With the launch of Koala Blue wines, she and long-time gal pal, Pat Farrar, have landed on a winner. Last year in a blind taste test of 50 wines by prestige American media group The Wall Street Journal, Koala Blue came in as one of the best.
“That was really thrilling,” says Pat. “We thought it was good wine but to have it recommended by The Wall Street Journal was just amazing. Now we tell everyone.”
“Everyone loves the wine and it is now starting to happen,” says Olivia, of the new Koala Blue TV commercials due to air next month (see page 13).
With commitments to her winery and a cancer hospital in Melbourne to her name, Olivia happily returns to her homeland three times a year.
“In my public stuff it is all about the environment, the hospital in Melbourne and Koala Blue and, of course, there is always Chloe (Lattanzi, her beautiful 19-year-old songstress daughter) and the music. I’m really enjoying singing because I don’t have to prove anything anymore.”
But once her public duties are fulfilled, it is her 32-hectare farm in the Byron Bay hinterland, and Australia generally, where the entertainer is at her happiest.
“When I get back to Australia and step off the plane I feel grounded, I feel revitalised. I catch up with my family and good old friends and I love to go to my home there.”
Olivia says her fond childhood memories keep Australia firmly in her heart. “Even though I only really lived there from when I was five to 15, they are your most impressionable years of growing up. I established roots there and I established a very strong bond with the country and the earth.”
“There’s something about the Australian landscape - the trees, the smells and the birds. When we started Koala Blue we talked about that vibrancy, and about capturing that.”
Olivia dreams that, one day, she may return to her property forever.
“I think about that (coming home for good) a lot,” says Olivia. “I used to say I wanted a pair of red shoes like Dorothy in The Wizard Of Oz-so I could just click my heels and be in Oz,” she admits.
“The beaches go for miles. It’s amazing, and as for the custard apples on my property…” she adds wistfully.
“My dream is to spend half the time here and half the time there. I hope that when Chloe is busy and doesn’t need her mum so much, I might be able to manage it.”
Olivia is thrilled that Chloe is following in her famous footsteps and delighted that she has signed a worldwide multi-album deal with Olivia’s own record company.
“Festival Mushroom Records is a lovely company and very nurturing of careers. It is very hard to get a company interested in the long term. Most companies are interested in the instant hit, but they see a potential in her and that is wonderful.”
Olivia has no plans to write songs for her only daughter, or give Chloe any particular career advice on how to be the new princess of pop or even a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll!
“No way!” she bursts out laughing. “I’m not hip enough. You know what it is like, you are never hip and funky to your children and she has to find her own way and her own style.”
That said, she would be more than happy to tag along with Chloe to London this year, when Chloe starts work on her first album.
It will herald a new beginning for both Chloe and her mum-and this year, her 12th year free of cancer, Olivia remains ever hopeful about life, even without her beloved mother and father by her side to support her.
“I’m open to the universe. I think I’ve done it all and then another door opens that is fascinating to me. I love challenges and new things. I realise as I get older, how little I know,” she has said.
Both Olivia’s parents, father Professor Brin Newton-John and her mother, Irene, instilled the importance of community. compassion and the beauty of nature into the young Olivia.
“When my mother was pretty ill, she was very excited about me getting involved in creating a cancer centre in Melbourne. I felt kind of weird about it - but I knew it would keep me coming back to Australia and I wanted to do something for her as well. Who knows, maybe (with extra money towards research) it might mean we’ll be the ones who discover a cure.”
Having also personally battled her own cancer demons-she now supports a range of programs such as the Liv Kit (a breast cancer self-examination kit) - Olivia is determined be an inspiration to others battling the disease.
“When I had breast cancer I met a lady who had been free of it for 20 years. It gave me hope. Anyone who is a long way ahead of you can give you hope.”
Olivia has had an amazing life. Not only is she a major recording star, whose career spans country, pop, folk and rock, she’s a film icon thanks to the hit musical Grease. But life for this Australian superstar isn’t about the star-studded career -the four Grammy awards, the Golden Globe, the Emmy and the numerous country music accolades. Nor is it about singing at the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympics or performing for Pope John Paul II.
“They are all wonderful things to look back on, but it is really more about the journey and the preparation,” says Olivia.
“Career is great and it has been wonderful. I have had a fantastic life and I have been very blessed in life with a lot of wonderful experiences but really the most important things in life are family and seeing your friends.”
Livvy and Pat - friends for life
How have Olivia and Pat Farrar, pictured right, stayed so close over the years? “Because I’m so wonderful,” says Pat laughing. “Because we’re both wonderful,” adds Olivia. “We’ve been friends for 40 years. We have shared a lot of experiences.
“We worked together as a double act. We moved to England together, we moved to America around the same time. We’ve shared a lot of career things. We are each other’s family over here because we don’t have much family.”
“A lot of friends don’t grow together but luckily we have grown together and we have a lot in common ya know,” she says putting on the Aussie slang.
Pat says the girls play tennis with their partners regularly. “We live three minutes down the road from each other… but I have to watch her as she’ll be moving next door if she gets a chance!”
Pat’s husband, John Farrar, has produced most of Olivia’s records and Pat did backing vocals on many of Olivia’s albums. “John is the music, Pat sang on a lot of my records - we have a tight unit,” says Livvy.
What a bottler!
Australia’s favourite daughter will soon be appearing in zany television commercials to promote Koala Blue wine.
Airing from August 1 on Network Ten, the TV spots feature Olivia and co-owner of the brand, Pat Farrar. In The ads the pair are shown enthusiastically crushing the grapes in a barrel and attempting to label the bottles.
Olivia wrote the ad and was keen to ensure they had a fun feel to them.
“We always wanted the commercials to have that Lucille Ball feel,” says Pat.
“Yes,” adds Olivia. “We wanted them to be silly.
“I liked the idea of doing it all ourselves.”
The pair, who have been friends since their teens, say shooting the commercial was “a hoot”. “They were a lot of fun to make. The crew were amazing,” says Olivia.
The wine is sourced in the Mount Macedon district in Victoria, and up until now Koala Blue has had only a small presence in Australia.
The ads, which were shot in Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula, are also due to air in the US.
Koala Blue Chardonnay, under $9, is available from Woolworths.
Words by Brenda Cunningham-Lewis. Cover Photography: Olivia Newton John Portrait Collection- www.Oliviaportraits.com
More from Olivia and Pat’s Koala Blue wine TV commercial