Olivia’s sister Sarah remembers Olivia - El Progreso

Olivia’s sister Sarah remembers Olivia

“Olivia Newton-John wanted to buy a house here, in Panton”

Olivia Newton-John received a tribute in Panton, where her sister Sarah lives, a resident of the municipality that dazzled the actress when she visited her three years ago.

This Tuesday was not another day at Panton , the town decided to join the many tributes that the world pays to the Australian actress Olivia Newton-John after her death on the 8th. She did so with the screening of the film that catapulted her to fame, Grease . And there was a very special neighbor, Sarah Newton-John, sister of the star .

Sarah has lived in Panton with her partner, Heather, since 2018. In this time they have become two more in the municipality, where they arrived dazzled by the photos they found on the internet.

“We lived in Sydney and we were very tired. We had an hour and a half by train to go to work and another to return home. Heather is 61 years old and I am 55. We wanted a quiet place and the Ribeira Sacra is perfect “, says Sarah Newton-John.

Settled in Panton, where she arrived six months after her mother died, in 2019 she received a visit from who is actually her half-sister. She and Olivia are daughters of the same father, but have different mothers . The actress got to know the Ribeira Sacra and what she found delighted her.

“My sister loved Galicia and Panton. She loved it. She was here for three days with her husband, John, a businessman. They stayed at the Augas Santas spa hotel, “ she recalls.

Olivia Newton John liked Panton so much that she even considered owning a house in the town hall . “When she returned to the United States, she called me and asked me to find her a house to buy,” says the sister.

Sarah found a candidate through the Idealista website. “It was very pretty, made of stone, but also very old and she finally didn’t want to take the step,” she says.

Olivia Newton-John has only been to Panton once, but it was enough to make her fall in love with what she saw. During her stay, she ate at the O Mosteiro inn and visited the As Bernardas monastery , where she attended mass, as she was a believer and, according to Sarah, “very spiritual.”

This Tuesday it was time for Sarah to see Grease again, the film that premiered when Sarah was only twelve years old and that made her older sister a star. “The first time I saw it I thought how beautiful Olivia was. It’s a great movie,” she concludes.