| Type: | Interview |
|---|---|
| first airdate: | 19 October 2004 |
| broadcaster: | ABC |
| Production country: |
AU |
| Duration: | 27 mins |
Full marks to the host of Enough Rope Andrew Denton for trying a different angle in his interview with Olivia. It's a sweet, funny interview but despite Andrew's best efforts Olivia doesn't reveal anything new with her answers until she is asked about her mother's death. Then Olivia tells us this amazing story:
"We had some quite amazing experiences with her spirit afterwards.
I had brought a candle from America and put it in the lounge room and the last few days it was burning and people were coming by to see her and I had a photograph there and flowers and I had always said to her, "Please give me a sign when you go that you're OK," because my mother had always told me that when her mother died, a photograph of her fell off the wall and she had always felt this was a sign from her mother. I said to her, "When you go, please give me a sign." My mother was not particularly religious - in fact I would say she was probably agnostic - but she said she would try, with a slight smile on her face. I'm not quite sure if she really believed it, but I always hoped she would.
I went in to sit with her about an hour after she had gone and I asked her - because I felt an incredible presence in the room, it was an energy that I had never felt before - so I said to her, "Mum, please let me know you're OK." I looked around the room, I thought, "What can we ask her to do?" There was nothing in there except some candles going under the window. I said, "Can you make the candles move, make them flicker, something?" The candles moved a little. That was enough for me. "Great, she is OK." Then there was a shout from the living room, and my sister, niece and friends and family were in the room. They screamed, "Olivia, come out here!" I thought, "Can't they just leave me alone to have quiet time with Mum?" I got up, I opened the door. I said, "What?" They said, "You will never believe what happened. A second ago, the candle in here exploded," and the whole candle went Tchhh! right under her picture. So I told them just what happened. We all kind of hugged, laughed and cried and felt that everything was OK. So that was my sign. It was a pretty powerful one. She was a pretty powerful lady."
