Livvy's coming home
AFTER the most traumatic year of her life. Olivia Newton-John is coming home indefinitely.
TV WEEK sources say Olivia, British by birth, her American hus-band Matt Lattanzi and their daughter Chloe want to migrate to Australia.
One source says the family has already filed immigration papers with the Australian Consulate in Los Angeles.
They will return to their property in northern NSW while Matt takes the lead role in the new Nine Network “surf and sun” drama Paradise Beach.
AS TV WEEK went to press. Matt’s management and the producers of Paradise Beach Village. Roadshow had exchanged letters of agreement and were set to sign formal contracts.
Matt is due to begin filming on the Gold Coast on March 1.
Paradise Beach is described as a youth-orientated drama. The half-hour show is set for an early-evening timeslot.
With the Gold Coast as a back-drop, the series will feature the adventures and romances of four central characters.
According to Nine Network sources, Olivia and Matt are very keen to return to Australia, and their property is only an hour or two by car from the area in which Matt will be working on the series.
“We gather Olivia is still not 100 per cent fit, so she’s looking forward to being away from Los Angeles and resting at their NSW property.” a source at Nine says.
Last July, Olivia discovered she had cancer and had surgery to remove part of her right breast. Chemotherapy followed.
The discovery coincided with the death of Olivia’s father, Professor Brinley Newton-John, on July 3. Olivia had been in Australia visiting him only three days before.
On the same day Olivia was told of her father’s death, Matt had a call from Olivia’s doctors saying they needed to see her to discuss the results of a biopsy.
The biopsy proved to be negative, but a lobectomy showed up the problem and the surgery was carried out 11 days later.
At the time, Olivia’s publicist Sylvie Brown said that the news had “hit hard”, adding: “She’s staying close to home right now.”
Olivia is still not 100% fit, so she is looking forward to being away from Los Angeles and resting at their NSW property
Her health scare and father’s death capped off a terrible time in Olivia’s life.
Two months earlier, her best friends’ daughter died from cancer after a year of chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
On a work level, Olivia’s Koala Blue empire collapsed and as part of her plan to get back on top, she was to revive her singing career with her first album in five years, Basic Instincts, and a U.S. tour.
She interrupted the tour preparations to fly to Australia to see her father, then her cancer scare put a stop to the tour altogether.
Just recently, reflecting on the heartache that piled in on her during 1992. Olivia described it as “the worst year of my life”.
Olivia has visited many times on work and personal trips, but this will be the first time she, Matt and Chloe, 7, have lived here. Chloe is expected to attend the school near their property.
Matt has signed up for an initial 13 weeks with Paradise Beach. Village Roadshow sold the series to numerous countries before day one of filming.
Story: David Brown. Main picture Dave Mason