Love and Honour
Agony and Ecstasy. After a year of hell with her lover missing, Olivia is finally smiling through her tears
After enduring almost 12 heartbreaking months since the mysterious disappearance of her boyfriend, Olivia Newton-John has at last been given something to smile about with the news she has been awarded the prestigious Order of Australia.
The honour couldn’t have come at a better time for the songstress who has been faced with shocking new allegations that Patrick McDermott, her boyfriend of nine years, may have faked his own death to run away with another woman.
‘It’s sad he wasn’t here to enjoy this, he would be very proud of me,’ Olivia graciously told friend and Nine Network reporter Richard Wilkins.
Patrick vanished without trace on a fishing trip off the Californian coast last July, leaving Olivia devastated. But last week witnesses from Mexico’s Baja Peninsula claimed to have seen Patrick with a mystery blonde woman. Despite the claims, to date there have been no confirmed sightings of him.
In accepting her award, Olivia said she would be thrilled if Patrick were found alive. ‘It’s all very distressing for everyone in the family. We miss him and love him and we would be thrilled if it was true,’ she says.
The award for services to the entertainment industry and charity work for breast cancer and environmental causes couldn’t have come at a better time. “This honour means a lot to me because it’s Australian and Australia will always be my home”, Olivia says.
Gregg Cave, her long-time friend and business partner at Gaia Retreat and Spa in Byron Bay, says: ‘I am absolutely thrilled, as are all of Olivia’s friends, that Livvy has been honoured for her enormous contribution not only to the arts, but for her tireless efforts for the environment and charity work.’
Olivia is due to return to Australia in the coming weeks to host Rock Inc, a corporate band challenge to raise funds to build the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Centre at Melbourne’s Austin Hospital.
‘Olivia is a sweetheart,’ a close friend tells New Idea. ‘She utterly deserves this honour. She’s on call 24 hours a day for those who need her and now it’s our turn to be there for her.
‘We will make sure the champagne corks are popped when she returns!’