Hollywood Guru Heals Olivia
OLIVIA Newton-John looking serene and much younger than her 47 years attributes her glowing new look to mind power. And for that she thanks celebrity guru Dr Deepak Chopra, whose teachings have helped her to battle back from her bout with breast cancer, the death of her beloved father and the emotional trauma of the break-up of her marriage to Matt Lattanzi.
“I have got to the place where you feel you have the power to cure yourself, and I’ve learnt not to dwell on the negatives, only the positives,” the “reborn” Olivia tells Woman’s Day in an exclusive interview.
“The mind is the most powerful thing in the world. Deepak, a wonderful friend, has shown me that.”
Livvy turned to the guru’s teachings in the wake of her momentous fight against cancer. Sick with the chemotherapy treatment, but anxious to try all forms of holistic healing, she started reading Deepak’s books on ridding the mind of negative feelings.
Her sister Rona explains: “Olivia now firmly believes that mind and body are one and if a lot of people pray together towards the same thing, then amazing things can happen.”
Olivia insists that she has now transformed her once frenetic lifestyle into a far simpler one. Now, instead of trying to juggle a full-time career, being a mother and wife, and running a high- profile business, she settles for the ordinary things, like taking her dogs for a walk and jogging on the beach.
“I eat a lot of herbs from the rainforest and I’ve just started taking algae in pill form,” Olivia explains. “I meditate 20 minutes twice a day. If I can’t do it at home I do it in my car if I’m being driven somewhere. And I really do take care of myself. I feel good on the inside and I’m glad that shows.”
Sister Rona says: “Livvy is a tough, courageous woman. She got through the roughest times because a lot of people came to her aid. And there was always Chloe, her daughter, so Livvy knew she had so much to live for.”
“And she was there for herself. Unless you’ve been through rough times yourself, you can never completely put yourself in the position of knowing what it must be like waking up in the middle of the night with the fear, ‘Has the cancer gone for good, or will it be back’?”
“It takes enormous strength of mind to believe that you are okay and that the cancer is never going to return.”
Olivia’s most recent public appearance was a day of tears and sadness, yet also of joy, celebration and triumph. There wasn’t a dry eye as the Aussie star spoke to the fundraising gathering of Chloe’s best friend, Colette Chuda, who died of cancer at the age of five in 1991.
With daughter Chloe, 10, at her side, the new-look Livvy, slender in white lace, her long locks chopped into a pixie cut, gazed out at some of the most famous faces in Hollywood.
Wiping away tears and with her voice breaking, Olivia told the crowd: “When Colette died, it was like I lost my other child.”
Olivia was Colette’s godmother and, despite her own battle with breast cancer since, she and Colette’s parents, Jim and Nancy, have worked non-stop to set up a fitting memorial to the child.
That memorial is the Children’s Health Environmental Coalition (CHEC), and it was the reason so many of Hollywood’s stars had gathered on the lawns of one of Tinseltown’s most luxurious mansions.
Inspired by Colette’s death, CHEC aims to educate and mobilise public opinion to press for greater protection of children against chemical toxins and pollutants in the food chain and the environment.
The invitations went out under the names of Olivia and Jim and Nancy Chuda to raise funds for the CHEC and, as Livvy put it: “To show we care for her and for all the children in the world.”
It was a tribute to their hard work that the turnout was so impressive. The setting for the occasion was idyllic. As a harpist and string quartet played under a huge oak on the magnificent estate of producer Alan Ladd Jnr, celebrities such as Jane Seymour, Mel Brooks, Anne Bancroft, Jamie Lee Curtis and Maria Shriver gave poetry readings with their children.
Deepak Chopra was also in the crowd. Away from the bustle, Livvy smiles and begins to open up about her new life: “I feel good,” she says. “I had my hair cut and now I’m working a little doing a Panasonic commercial for Australia. Not long ago I sang in a commercial for Tasmanian tourism. So I’ve been doing little bits and pieces. But I’m trying not to do things that will take me away from Chloe, who now goes to school in California. “
“I feel she’s at that age when she needs me to be around. So I haven’t got anything definite planned in the future. At the most it’s just working with this children’s group.”
Olivia’s latest album, Gaia, is due for US release soon. “And down the road there might be a movie in Australia. I don’t really know.”
So is there a new man in her life? She screws up her face and giggles: “I don’t want to go into my personal life or talk about romances. That’s private.”
“I’m doing very well on my own, thank you. Chloe is thriving and life is good. It’s a nice place to be in my life.” She bubbles with new confidence, and if the bruises are still there from her break-up with Matt, they don’t show.
Rona, who has been through three divorces herself, has been a great source of strength for Olivia. She was there through Colette’s death, the death of their beloved father Brinley, Livvy’s breast cancer and the end of her marriage.
Rona says: “When her therapy began after surgery, Livvy tried everything such as yoga and other holistic ways of dealing with it. She was upbeat even on the day she came out of hospital. Her state of mind was remarkable. She truly believed she was going to get well.”
It was about that time, says Rona, that Deepak Chopra came into her sister’s life.
“After the operation and chemo, she started reading his books, which list his theories and ideals about getting rid of the negatives in life. He extols the power of mind over body and he introduced her to new ways of coping with life.”
Rona is very close to Olivia and speaks to her almost daily. “You try to give advice but, in the end, she is going to do what she wants to anyway. But she knew I was always there to listen to her,” Rona says.
So does Rona think her sister needs a man in her life? “I think she’s discovered that happiness comes from inside yourself. If you can get to a stage where you feel good with yourself, then you don’t need anybody else.”
“She knows that money doesn’t make you happy, and somebody else can’t make you happy. It has to be you. You can be with a great guy, madly in love, and not be happy. You can have all the money in the world and still be miserable.”
By Ivor Davis. Pictures Michelle Day.