Emerson on Patrick
As Olivia Newton-John struggles to deal with her her partner's inexplicable disappearance. US-based nephew lifts the lid on the secrets surrounding the shocking mystery
Emerson Newton-John, Olivia’s nephew, is the first family member to break his silence over the baffling disappearance almost three months ago of Patrick McDermott - the man Olivia called her soul mate. Emerson has revealed previously unknown details surrounding the weeks leading up to the shocking event.
In an exclusive interview with Woman’s Day, Emerson - the son of Olivia’s sister Rona and brother of Aussie TV personality Tottie Goldsmith, has revealed:
The couple had broken up just weeks before Patrick disappeared off a recreational fishing charter boat because Olivia did not want to marry him.
After more than a decade of sobriety, Patrick had recently started drinking again.
Olivia was not aware of the extent of her partner’s financial problems, including thousands in unpaid child support payments.
Patrick’s disappearance was a tragic accident rather than something more sinister.
Emerson, a US-based race car driver, believes a number of setbacks had hit 48-year-old Patrick in the months and weeks leading up to his disappearance, including his inability to find work as a “gaffer”, or lighting technician, on film sets.
Another “setback”, Emerson says, was the end of Patrick’s nine-year relationship with the Australian legend - whom he affectionately calls Livvy - just before the fateful boating trip.
“It just naturally came to an end,” says Emerson. “Livvy saw it was not progressing. She knew he was drinking… she probably didn’t want to deal [with it].”
Emerson says his aunt did not want to marry again after a painful end to her 11-year marriage to Matt Lattanzi, the father of her daughter Chloe, 19.
“Livvy got burned by Matt horribly,” Emerson reveals. “She doesn’t want to get married… she doesn’t feel the need to be married again.”
Despite this, Emerson did not doubt Patrick’s devotion to the singer. “He genuinely loved Olivia,” he says.
According to Emerson, Patrick had a previous alcohol addiction which he said “almost killed him” but had been sober for some time - until not long before his disappearance.
“I know for a fact that he did start drinking again,” Emerson reveals. “He had been clean for more than 10 years. When [alcoholics] are sober and start drinking again they really start drinking again.”
Adding to his woes was a secret he kept hidden from Olivia he faced possible financial ruin, owing thousands in child support to his ex-wife, sometime CS/ actress Yvette Nipar. Emerson believes Patrick was up to a year behind in child support payments for his 13-year-old son Chance.
“His finances were running very low,” says Emerson. “Olivia was not even aware of his backed up child support until it came out in the media.”
According to a 1994 divorce filing, Patrick was ordered to pay more than $1000 a month in child support for his son, and as recently as April was ordered by a court to make all outstanding payments. He had filed for bankruptcy in 2000 while owing about $40,000 to creditors.
Emerson says Olivia did not bail him out of financial trouble because she didn’t know the truth of his situation, but also because “that’s not her game”.
“It was not her responsibility to support her boyfriends,” he says bluntly.
Emerson claims the drinking, the debts and the crumbling relationship all contributed to Patrick’s undoing. “I think he was depressed as all hell,” says Emerson sadly of the man he admits was not his “buddy”, but whom he grew to admire because of the “love and devotion” he’d shown his aunt.
Emerson reveals that at the start of their relationship, he was “kind of harsh” towards the man who had stolen his aunt’s heart.
“I was always tripped out at how confident he was,” he reveals. “Then I started to realise, maybe the guy is legitimate. I went from having real issues to hey, he makes her happy.”
Emerson is quick to scotch theories that Patrick faked his own disappearance to avoid his creditors and start a new life.
“How can you fake your own disappearance unless you paid a lot of people off?” he asks. “He didn’t have the financial resources or the time to fake his own disappearance. He’s a smart character, he wasn’t in trouble. We all have financial issues.”
He also disputes claims that Patrick may have committed suicide. Emerson, the father of two young children himself, says he admired Patrick’s devotion to his son Chance and says he was in “constant contact” with his ex-wife about the boy.
“I don’t think he took his own life. He was too responsible as a father. I don’t believe the guy would be that selfish. I know he was a good father.”
Emerson believes that on the fateful overnight fishing trip in July, Patrick may have had drinks at dinner before heading upstairs to enjoy the fresh sea breeze.
“It doesn’t take much to fall off a boat and drown.”
He’s also able to shed light on why Patrick’s ex-wife Yvette raised the alarm about his disappearance, rather than Olivia, something that the star has been attacked for in the US press.
Former FBI agent Ted Gunderson told a US tabloid, “I’ve seen people make a bigger deal out of a missing cat.”
“She didn’t go public because of his son - there is no other issue,” he says. “She (Olivia] didn’t want to spill the beans because of this poor young kid.”
He also reveals that after the break-up, “I don’t think that [Olivia and Patrick) were in day-to-day contact.”
When the news was broken to Olivia’s extended family, Emerson says he was stunned because “you just don’t expect these kinds of things to happen”.
Emerson knows his beloved aunt Olivia is suffering and says he would do anything to end her pain at not knowing what happened to Patrick.
The hardest thing, he says, is the fact that no body has been found and no-one seems to be any closer to understanding what really happened off the California coast that night.
“Livvy knows no more than the authorities. It’s something where there’s no closure,” he says. “She’s not doing well. I love my aunt very much.”
Story: Rachel Morris