Olivia Newton-John sets the record straight on health rumours

After rumours of her imminent demise swept the internet earlier this year, Olivia Newton-John has revealed what was really going on - and why she had to cancel celebrations for her 70th birthday.

Olivia Newton-John has opened up on the shocking rumours that spread around the globe in January that the Australian star was close to death.

In a new interview with People magazine in the US, the Aussie icon revealed that she has actually spent the past six months quietly recovering from a cancer-induced pelvic fracture.

“Those things are so stupid. Why not just go, ‘Here I am, and I’m fine!” she told the magazine of why she immediately uploaded a denial message to social media. “We just nipped it in the bud.”

Olivia Newton-John during the annual Wellness Walk and Research Run in Melbourne in September. She’s now revealed she was in excruciating pain during it. Picture: Getty Images

Newton-John was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, which returned in 2013. She’s now in the midst of treating stage 4 breast cancer, which has also spread to her sacrum.

She told the magazine she fractured her pelvis — a side effect of her bones weakening due to her illness — back in September when she felt severe pain while taking part in a cancer walk for her Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre in Melbourne.

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Olivia Newton-John and husband John Easterling during the run. Picture: Jason Edwards

The fracture meant she was admitted to hospital for more radiation, missing out on a planned 70th birthday celebration.

“There were all these things I was going to do for my birthday,” she told the magazine. “But God had other plans.”

Olivia Newton-John in Xanadu. Picture: Supplied

Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta in Grease. Picture: Getty Images

Newton-John is now recuperating at home in LA with her husband, John Easterling.

She has said she’s currently treating her illness with holistic treatments including herbs medicinal cannabis, as well as oral cancer medication.

Olivia Newton-John with her husband John Easterling, her daughter, Chloe Lattanzi, and Chloe’s fiance James Driskill. Picture: WireImage

Newton-John admitted that the rumours of her demise rocked both her and her friends.

“My friends were calling and believing this stuff,” she said to People. “I had to say, “You really think if it was that bad you wouldn’t know?”

A rep for the star called the rumours “ridiculous” and “crap”.

Olivia Newton-John is fighting a third battle against cancer. Picture: Getty Images

Newton-John posted her own video, saying “the rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated”.

The star’s 2018 memoir, Don’t Sop Believin’, detailed her cancer battle.

Newton-John’s sister Rona died of brain cancer in 2013.