We Want only the best for this baby
By Jenny Cullen
Marriage has changed Olivia Newton- John. She’s happier now than ever, more contented, more grown up. “Being Mrs Matt Lattanzi is special and even better than I ever imagined,” says the 37-year-old actress-singer superstar. In this exclusive interview her first Australian interview since her marriage in December last year Olivia says she’s full of energy and excitement, and very confident about her first baby, which is due in February. In fact, she’s so confident she plans to have her baby by natural childbirth. “That is if I can pull it off,” she says. “But I am not going to be a martyr about it. If it’s not working for me, I’ll ask for help. Jane Seymour, who has had two children says you don’t get any awards if you’re in terrible agony and don’t ask for help.”
Olivia is swapping baby gossip and talk with all her friends, and with elder sister Rona Newton-John “she has been through it all and gives me tips and advice”. But Olivia says she found the first few months of pregnancy very tiring. “I wasn’t sick or anything, but I just didn’t feel good. But now I feel fantastic and the baby is fine… and very, very lively. It wakes me in the middle of the night now, kicking and romping around.” While Olivia is too superstitious to allow friends to give her any baby clothes yet “I don’t want to tempt fate” she has been making plans, and high on the agenda is taking the baby ‘home’ to Australia in March, when it is just a few weeks old, “to meet my family and friends”. Olivia says she’s felt much closer to husband Matt since she became pregnant. “He’s very protective but he really doesn’t have to be I am looking after myself very well,” she says. “I have a self-preservation instinct and I want only the best for this baby.”
Olivia’s regimen these days includes long walks, swimming and a careful diet: “I’ve cut back on work too, so that most of the time I am at home, resting, cooking, gardening, being a proper housewife and 1’ve even taken up knitting.” Olivia is knitting a sweater for herself. “If I finish this sweater and it’s good enough, I’ll start knitting for the baby,” she promises. Olivia also says impending motherhood has brought her close to her mother, Irene Newton- John. “I speak to her by telephone a lot more, to let her know I’m okay and to ask her this and that.”
Olivia thanks husband Matt for her new confidence in herself. “Matt,” she says, “has changed my life. “I’m happier now than ever. I stiI1 get such a charge out of thinking, ‘Hey, I’m Mrs Lattanzi’. I still cal1 myself OIivia Newton- John, but I am Mrs Matt Lattanzi and I love it.”
Although Olivia lived with Matt for five years before they wed, she says marriage has made a big difference. “When you live together you make plans for the next six months or maybe the next year, but that’s it. But when you marry, you plan on a lifetime together, you can really talk about what you want for the future.” “Marriage has made me more comfortable and I know Matt is more comfortable. Now we are married we’ve discovered we are more accepted by society. Our married friends have opened up more.”
Olivia is also proud of the way her husband an accomplished dancer and actor has helped her launch a sexier look for her latest video and album Soul Kiss, the cover of which has Olivia in jodhpurs, carrying a whip, and topless except for a scarf and the covering of a long mane of hair. “Matt has helped me lose my inhibitions. He encourages me, supports me, and is happy for me to do anything I feel comfortable with. He’s not a jealous kind of husband, he’s not one of those possessive husbands who says, ‘How dare you look like that for other men’. “The new look is tongue-in-cheek raunchy, not meant to be taken seriously.”
Matt has just been signed by director Blake Edwards who made the Pink Panther movies and hits like 10 and Victor/Victoria for a new film called Priceless. “He’ll star with Jack Lemmon, Sally Kellerman and Julie Andrews, and Blake has also written the film, so it is a big thrill,” Olivia says. When Matt met Olivia on the set of her movie Xanadu, he was an unknown. For the first few years of their relationship he was tagged Mr Newton- John. “I never worried about that for him,” says Olivia. “Matt never let it faze him. He has always been very confident in who he was… and that I think is why I fell in love with him and why we get on so well. “Now I couldn’t be happier, I am very, very lucky.”