Chloe Opens Up About Honouring Her Mother's Legacy - Stellar

The Sunday Seven, Chloe Lattanzi

Four Years After The Death Of Olivia Newton-John, Her Daughter Opens Up About Honouring Her Mother's Legacy, Feeling Her Presence Everywhere And Stepping Into The Era Of Me Now

Interview by Adrienne Tam

1. Chloe Lattanzi really is her mother's daughter. There's a warmth in her voice and eyes and a kind of deliberation to her words that are so reminiscent of the late singer. My mum and I present differently, but we're very much alike," the singer and actor tells Stellar from the Florida home she shares with her partner, James Driskill.
Yet despite their similarities, Olivia Newton-John, who died from metastatic breast cancer in August 2022, told Lattanzi she wanted her to be her own person.
My mum saw me as Chloe, she recalls. Her wish for me, like any mother's for their child, was not to be her, and not to be absorbed into her. When people interact with me, they say, 'I see so much of your mum in you.' They go, 'You have her heart.' That's the way I'm carrying my mum's legacy: with love and heart.

2. Another way Lattanzi, 40, is keeping her mother's legacy alive is through the Olivia Newton-John Cancer And Wellness Centre in Melbourne and its annual fundraising event, Olivia's Walk for Wellness, which brings together patients, families, survivors, carers and supporters in honour of Newton-John's vision for whole-person cancer care.
This year's walk on Sunday October 4 will be its llth and final. It's not a sad thing. It's the last year of the event, but everything else is continuing, Lattanzi says, adding that the ONJ Centre isn't closing or its services being reduced.
Even though it wasn't her call to discontinue the Walk - which she will attend - Lattanzi and the Centre agreed a pivot was needed to focus on more cost-effective initiatives.
I want to make this global, she explains. I want young people to be aware of what we're talking about, what our ideology is, what Mum's wisdom was, and grow and expand it. The team was in alignment with that, and Mum is in alignment with that. So this last walk is a celebration.

3. After watching Newton-John's journey with cancer, Lattanzi doesn't want anyone else to suffer that kind of experience. I'm blessed enough that I get to give back to people who are going through what my mum went through, your body literally turning against you, she reflects. Body, mind, and spirit - it's all one thing.
When someone gets sick in the mind or the body, it's all interconnected. The body keeps the score, she continues. We've already implemented some of my techniques for healing trauma trapped in the body in the Wellness Centre.

4 In the four years since her mother's death, Lattanzi says her aura remains.
After my mum died, she made her presence known in photos, like this bright blue orb of the crystal, the necklace that she'd always wear. I told her [before she died], 'When you're in spirit form, you can show up on camera. And she said, 'OK, if I can do that, I will' And she did, multiple times.
And now that I'm in a state of calm and not anxiety, I feel more connected to her than ever. I feel my life has become something magical; because I'm in alignment, everything outside of me is in alignment. What I'm trying to say is she's always been there, but it's the most powerful connection right now.

5. While the memories of the pair singing and touring together are precious, Lattanzi says her favourite recollections of her mum are the private ones, the ones where it was just them together.
It's her and I in bed watching a movie, late into the night, where no-one can call her, she says. It's me and my mum cuddling, or sitting on her porch watching the birds, having tea, just me and her, and talking.
When you've been born into a world where there's a lot of energy coming at you all the time and asking for your time, those moments of just me and her doing the simplest things are the most sacred. We would have the best laughs together.

6. Lattanzi says she's now quietly working working away on a number of projects. They're all quite big. One is linked to the way that we're going to fundraise now. I'll just say it's super exciting.
I just shot a movie and the director, who is just incredible, told me because of my performance we got green-lit for the sequel. And now we have a huge budget and I'm starring in it. And in the second film, my dad [actor and dancer Matt Lattanzi] has got a role... I sent the director footage of him, and I said, 'I'm not pushing anything on you, but just watch him. And he goes, 'Oh my God!' So there has been a little part written in for my dad.
Lattanzi says her parents were alike in how they find beauty and joy in everything. To this day, he calls her Weewa. They always loved each other. Even after the divorce, that love was never lost. I was blessed that when she crossed over, my daddy was there with me and her. That was very sacred.

7. These days, Lattanzi is feeling more herself than ever before. I'm becoming whole for the first time in a long time, she tells Stellar. I feel empowered, and every day is magical. I'm in the best place that I've ever been.
I'm coming home, rediscovering this powerful woman who I dimmed her light for so long, for reasons that I know. I will write a book or make a series about my life because I think it could be extremely helpful and funny and interesting for people. But I'm just stepping into the era of me now. I'm living my dream.

The final Olivia's Walk For Wellness will take place in Melbourne on October 4. For more information, visit walkforwellness.com.au