This Much I Know
Nice interview “this much I know” in the UK Sunday newspaper The Observer
The last line is really lovely:
People will form their own opinion of you. It’s up to you to have an amazing life and care little for what others think.
You don’t really ever know your parents. My mother was German – she’d moved to the UK before the Second World War [she was part Jewish] – and my dad was in the RAF. They only stopped speaking in German to one another after the war ended and I was born. It was only 30 years later that I found out my father had been an MI5 officer.
I got lucky. The success I’ve had still surprises me. I wasn’t particularly ambitious. I was really relaxed about it all – there were lots of singers and actors around who “wanted it” more than I did.
Grease was a life-changing experience that I’m reminded of constantly. The best thing I took from it is lifelong friendships – John [Travolta] and I are still mates to this day.
My mother always said: “Never rely on any man to take care of you.” She drummed that into me from an early age. It’s the one piece of advice that has carried me through life.
We all have a duty to do our bit for the planet. We need to become more conscious that our choices affect one another and the earth. We share the same air, we share the same land, and unless we change the way we live now, the future doesn’t bear thinking about.
My father never spoke of his time in MI5. He wasn’t allowed to, so his life was a mystery to us. He left us some tapes for after he died explaining his life, but I’ve not listened to them yet because it makes me feel too sad.
Motherhood changed me in the best of ways. Suddenly there was a being there that was more important than me, and that person was my responsibility. It’s difficult to articulate the unconditional love that you have for your baby.
I love doing my own laundry. I have a ritual when I get back from trips: I unpack and wash everything and hang it all out to dry, which I find therapeutic and meditative.
I probably have broken the law at some point in my life, but I’m not getting into the how’s or why’s.
I have kept some of the clothes from my films: the jacket and black trousers from Grease are original 50s pieces. I don’t try them on – they’re pretty old and I wouldn’t want to rupture them.
Cancer was enlightening. When you’re ill, it doesn’t matter if you have all the money in the world – it makes no difference. I feel very blessed to have been given the chance to live.
People will form their own opinion of you. It’s up to you to have an amazing life and care little for what others think.
Livwise: Easy Recipes for a Healthy, Happy Life by Olivia Newton-John is published by Murdoch Books, £16.99
Original article