The Greening of Olivia - Today newspaper

The Greening of Olivia

By Ivan Waterman

OLIVIA Newton-John has put off having another child so that she can join the star-studded crusade to save the world’s rain forests. The Australian singer has teamed up with pop music idols including Donna Summer, Chris Rea and Kim Wilde to record a fund-raising single, Spirit Of The Forest.

Millionairess Olivia, 40, dedicated herself to environmental campaigns after the birth of her daughter Chloe-Rose three years ago. “I want her to be able to see all the beauties of the world that I have seen and breathe clean air and drink clean water,” Olivia says. Her husband, American teen heart-throb actor Matt Lattanzi, 30, supports her stand whole-heartedly. “The nature and wildlife around us is being destroyed and we must care about that,” he says. “Because of the position Olivia and I are in we can influence what’s happening. We would both love another child, but Olivia in particular is so busy dealing with these serious issues that we are up against the clock in terms of adding to our family at the moment.”

Olivia will be talking about her worries for the environment in tomorrow’s pop programme Ghost Train On Sunday. And she will be featured in Monday night’s Def II documentary about the recording of Spirit Of The Forest. The single was made in a similar way to the Band Aid record. Artists contributed from London, New York, Los Angeles and Brazil. Olivia and Matt see her contribution to the record as a way of giving something back to the world. “We owe a responsibility to save our existence,” Matt says. “It’s no good just taking all the time.”

Matt and Olivia live in a fabulous 3 million ranch-style home in Malibu, surrounded by horses, dogs and cats. “We have created for ourselves a marvellous environment,” Matt says. “We are very lucky and so is Chloe. But there are so many other families living in dangerous environmental conditions next to power stations and factories. It is wonderful to think that you are doing something constructive towards making a difference to what’s going on out there.”

The couple are both vegetarians and Chloe-Rose now drinks soya milk instead of the dairy product. “We want to educate people about pesticides in their food and the way meat is treated before it’s passed on to families,” Matt says.

Ed- The Today Newspaper, from the UK, was published from 1986 until 1995.