Grease Star Olivia Newton-John Dies at 73

Aug. 8, 2022 — Olivia Newton-John will without end be recognized for her feel-good ballads, sunny disposition and her star flip as a goody-two-shoes within the hit musical “Grease.” But the singer-songwriter needed to be remembered for greater than the love songs and the position that outlined her decades-long profession.

After her first bout with breast most cancers greater than 1 / 4 century in the past, Newton-John used her celeb standing to assist improve consciousness of the illness that impacts greater than 2 million girls worldwide. Her efforts— together with a charity stroll on the Great Wall of China— raised hundreds of thousands of {dollars} for a most cancers analysis heart that bears her identify.

Newton-John, who was identified with Stage 4 breast most cancers in 1992, died Monday in California. The reason behind demise shouldn’t be instantly recognized She was 73 and is survived by her husband, John Easterling, and her daughter Chloe Lattanzi.

“Olivia has been a symbol of triumphs and hope for over 30 years sharing her journey with breast cancer,” her husband posted on Newton-John’s Instagram web page. “Her healing inspiration and pioneering experience with plant medicine continues with the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund, dedicated to researching plant medicine and cancer.”

Among all cancers, breast most cancers is the No. 1 reason behind demise amongst girls, statistics from the World Health Organization present. The illness is the most-frequently identified most cancers amongst girls, and a few developed international locations have the very best charges on the earth. In the United States, it’s estimated that one in eight girls will develop the illness. 

The “Xanadu” star was first identified with breast most cancers in 1992. She stated medical doctors had caught it in its early levels as a result of she’d been diligent about getting routine checkups. Ten years later, she celebrated the opening of the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Center in Austin. 

But the most cancers got here again 21 years later.

In a September 2018 interview with the Australian present affairs program Sunday Night” Newton-John disclosed the most cancers returned in 2013 and unfold to her proper shoulder. She needed to cancel U.S. and Canada excursions to bear therapy. 

Rumors that Newton-John’s well being had deteriorated surfaced in the summertime of 2018, and intensified later that yr. But in a brief video message posted on her Facebook web page in January 2019, Newton-John dismissed the dire experiences about her situation, telling her followers, “I just want to say that the rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated…And I’m doing great. I want to wish all of you the happiest, healthiest 2019 as possible.” 

In the Sunday Night interview, Newton-John stated she was assured she’d win her newest face-off with the illness. In addition to present process radiation therapy and consuming a more healthy weight loss plan, the favored singer and actress stated she was treating the most cancers “naturally” and used do-it-yourself hashish chews to mitigate ache and assist her sleep. 

Newton-John stated she felt scared and overwhelmed at instances, and that pondering of others who additionally have been coping with most cancers stored her grounded.

“There are other people out there doing much, much worse than me,” Newton-John stated. “I’m [a] very privileged person and I’m very aware of that. I mean, I live in this beautiful place, I have a wonderful husband, I have all the animals that I adore. I have an incredible career.”

“I have nothing really to complain about.”

Newton-John was born on Sept. 26, 1948 in Cambridge, England. Her household moved to Melbourne, Australia when she was 5. By the time she was 15, she’d fashioned an all-girl musical group and was showing on native TV exhibits. 

The first huge break in her singing profession got here when she received a visit to London in a expertise contest. Throughout the Nineteen Sixties, Newton-John and a detailed buddy traveled round Europe singing at military bases and golf equipment. By the time she auditioned for the half in “Grease” within the late Seventies, she had had a profitable solo profession and received a number of Grammy Awards.

Keeping up with common mammograms is vital to catching breast most cancers in its early levels, when it’s simpler to deal with and the possibilities of curing it are a lot greater, stated Nisha Unni, MD, a breast most cancers specialist at UT Southwestern Medical Center’s Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center in Dallas. Unni stated advances in screening expertise over the least twenty years— together with 3-D mammography— have helped medical doctors catch breast most cancers a lot earlier, particularly in youthful girls.