Many of my friends go to bed for the day when they hit 40
By Moira Petty
OLIVIA Newton-John launched her new pop record yesterday after three years as a full-time mother and briskly dismissed the significance of the 40th birthday she will celebrate in a fortnight.
Forever tagged with the apple-cheeked, high school image she earned from Grease, along with £6 million, she has no time for women who wallow in depression at the thought of growing older. “Everyone has this image that at 40 you should start falling apart. That’s just not realistic any more. Being 40 these days is like 30 used to be. Of course when l was 18, the idea of being 40 seemed horrendous. But then so did 30. Now that I’m there it’s not really that old any more.”
Olivia still looks younger than her years with her long, honey coloured hair and wide smile. But her face is slimmer and the laughter lines are more prominent. She isn’t displeased with what she sees in the mirror. “I’ve seen a lot of friends go to bed for the day when they reach 40. I’m determined not to be one of them”.
There is no time for lounging in bed these days anyway. Despite the live-in nanny and the hired help which comes daily to her Malibu ranch, Olivia is rarely separated from her baby daughter or her husband, 28-year-old film actor Matt Lattanzi.
Since Chloe Rose was born two years and 8 months ago, Olivia is likely to spend her time organising a twice-weekly playgroup of eight local mothers than launching a concert tour.
Her new single, The Rumour, is written by Elton John, and an LP of the same name due out in October, were recorded in snatched sessions away from Chloe. But the child’s influence is present throughout the songs, which mark a radical new departure for Olivia.
“Having Chloe has changed the way I feel about things far more than getting older. I have developed a social conscience and it’s there in the songs. After you’ve had a child, your focus is different. I don’t want to sing love songs about boy meets girl any more. That would feel trite to me.”
“I‘m singing about Aids, single parents, role reversal in marriage, ecology. My daughter is going to be facing these problems in twenty years from now, and I’d like the world to be a better place for her.”
“I’m more sensitive to a lot of things. I get more angry about things that happen to children. I get incensed these days. I never used to”.
Olivia, found it so difficult to find songs expressing just what she felt, that she wrote four herself. But there will be no concert tour. “I couldn’t send her off screaming to the nanny. If she was ill I wouldn’t go on stage.”
While we talked, Olivia picked up toys from the floor of her suite at the Inn On The Park, and fussed over Chloe, dressed in a traditional navy smocked dress and glittering stud earrings.
Mum was dressed in the kind of casual clothes Californian personalities wear at home, to the supermarket and the workout class — tight black leggings, loose shocking pink T-shirt and witty braces.
Even the outfit is an integral part of the new, for she designs, manufactures and retails these and other items as part of a multi million pound business.
Four years ago Olivia and a friend opened the first of their Koala Blue shops and now there are 16 dotted across the USA. This year they expect to turn over £5 million.
The business began in a moment of homesickness for her native Australia. When Olivia, on her Physical tour, decided that she wanted to set up a centre where fellow Aussies could come to buy home grown magazines and clothes and share a nostalgic milk shake. But it was the Koala Blue screen printed T-shirts which sold out and inspired her to design a range she describes as “sporty, casual, feminine and easy to wear.”
“We wanted to manufacture and design and we could either go for it stay with just one or two shops. Now we’re hoping to come to London next year.”
“I used to think I’d never give up singing, but it could be that I’ll devote more time to business in the future, and just work behind the scenes in the music business”.
When Olivia attends business meetings, she has her own version of the power suit: a brightly coloured T-shirt with massive shoulders. She is the group’s biggest promotional asset and attends all store openings but she dislikes the way she is ruthlessly scrutinised at every appearance she makes.
“There is so much emphasis put on youth that it’s difficult for people who are in the public eye. To be honest, it makes you think about doing things which aren’t so much in the public eye. It is inevitable that you‘ll lose your looks, but I’m a realist.”
“People always ask why I‘m admitting to my age, but I know that though the outside may change, it’s the inner life that’s important.”
“In a year or two Matt and I hope to have another baby and with all the tests you can have being a Mum over 40 won’t worry me.”
“Matt and I waited six years Before having children and when we did the time was right. We all travel together as a family when Matt is working. It’s important that Chloe sees a lot of her father. I’m not afraid of losing Matt to a younger woman. If you think like that you’ll make it happen.”
“Matt, starts work on a new film in Minneapolis on September 26, my birthday. I’ve told him he can organise a party for me, but not too big.”
“Having a younger husband really keeps me on my toes.”