World exclusive: Chloe Lattanzi on the first anniversary of Olivia Newton-John’s death

Chloe Lattanzi opens up in an in-depth interview about her grief ahead of the one-year anniversary of her mother Olivia Newton-John’s death and reveals how carrying on Olivia’s legacy will bring her to Australia later this year.

“We have got to make the most of every moment and be present in as much as we can. That’s what I really, really learnt from her,” Chloe Lattanzi says of what her mother taught her. Picture: Beau Grealy for Stellar

Tuesday August 8 marks a year since the death of Olivia Newton-John. Her hit songs defined an era, but it was her radiant personality and humanitarian work that made her one of Australia’s (and the world’s) most-loved entertainers. But few people had a more intimate understanding of what drove her – or how she lived with breast cancer for 30 years – than her daughter Chloe Lattanzi. Now, in a world exclusive, the 37-year-old sits down with Stellar’s podcast Something To Talk About from her mother’s ranch in California – where she and her husband joined us for this photo shoot – to discuss how she plans to mark the milestone and explain why, despite her grief, she is passionately ploughing forward to sustain her mother’s philanthropic legacy through Melbourne’s annual Olivia’s Walk For Wellness. “None of us get out of this alive,” she says. “So we’ve got to – like my mum said – enjoy every day, even if it’s difficult, and find the beauty in it. That’s what I learnt from her”

Chloe Lattanzi stars on the cover of this weekend’s issue of Stellar.

On her late mother Olivia Newton-John’s ranch in California, where Lattanzi lives with her husband, martial arts trainer James Driskill, and where she was photographed for today’s Stellar cover shoot: “We moved there and I took care of her for maybe a year and a half, two years. I feel like she’s still alive. Her horses Harry and Winnie are there, and [her dog] Raven and [cat] Magic, and our new dog, Jack. I walk out into the garden, and there are all these flags with pictures of me and her kissing and cuddling. Even though I feel her around me in spirit, it’s a tangible place where I feel my mother. I can walk on the soil and be like, her foot was here. I can sit on her favourite seat and know that she sat there a thousand times, and visualise sitting on her lap. It’s the last place she lived, where she crossed and I held her hand. She’s still alive there for me.”

Listen to the full interview with Chloe Lattanzi on Stellar’s podcast Something To Talk About:

On what she learnt from watching her mother live with breast cancer [Newton-John was first diagnosed in 1992, after she found a lump in her breast. It went into remission after nine months. In 2013, it returned via a tumour in her shoulder; four years later, in 2017, Newton-John announced that it had again spread to a tumour in her back]: “My mum recognised that cancer is so much more than just a physical journey. It’s one of the mind and the spirit; they’re all connected. If you hold in anything emotionally or you’re not healthy emotionally, you can manifest illness in the body. You have to treat yourself holistically even if you don’t have cancer. My mum had that awareness. You know, she said to me,

‘I feel that my cancer manifested in my breast because I was breastfeeding the world. I was giving too much of myself, and I wasn’t taking care of me.’”

On learning of her mother’s first diagnosis, which occurred when she was a young girl: “She hid it from me, because she didn’t want to scare me. I was a very sensitive child. I was at school, and a little kid ran up to me with a magazine and said, “Haha, your mum is dying of cancer.’ I came home and burst into tears. I didn’t yell at her, but I said, ‘Mummy, why didn’t you tell me? I would have taken care of you.’ I think it was hard [for her] because two years prior, my best friend died of Wilms tumour cancer, and that wasn’t really talked about. To be honest with you, I don’t remember a lot from those times because they were traumatic. There’s a lot that’s blacked out. My mum and I are very much alike.

You realise that when you get older – you know, I hide things to protect people or not make them worry. I can’t really speak for what she thought. I know that when she was diagnosed in 2013, she just kept telling me everything was OK. I went to [her] MRIs, and I was getting assured and it was fine. And then the second one [in 2017], I went to take care of her, and that was the most painful experience of my life. But it was almost beautiful, because all I ever wanted to do was… you know, the greatest privilege is to take care of the person you love the most.”

Her feelings on grappling with her personal grief following her mother’s death while also navigating the outpouring of tributes that flowed in from around the world: “I got absolute oceans of love and support and connection. I’m kind of isolated on the ranch, and I’d have fans reaching out: ‘If you ever need anything, anyone to talk to… we love you so much.’ It was the lifeboat, and beautiful in a way, all these people sending so much love to our family and loving my mother. They really lifted me out of dark places. My husband has been my rock, my strength and my safe place during this hard time. My family and my beautiful friends have been my saving grace and I feel so blessed to be surrounded by so much love.”

Chloe Lattanzi and husband James Driskill pictured on her late mother’s ranch in California. Picture: Beau Grealy for Stellar

On the impact that speaking candidly about the grief of losing of her mother – as she did at February’s state memorial honouring Newton-John – as well as being open about her own personal struggles with body image, addiction and mental health, has on helping others feel less isolated as they navigate their own experiences: “I went through years of mental illness caused by compound trauma. I’m going to be doing a podcast around that and mental illness – which is really trauma that hasn’t been dealt with that manifests itself into symptoms of the mind, and addiction… escaping the pain of the body. I’ve always felt the calling – like my mum did – to talk about my journey openly, so that I can let another person know ‘You’re normal, you’re not alone. I’m with you, you’re with me, and there’s nothing wrong with you.’ You have a choice to turn your pain into death, just destroying yourself. Or using it to reach out to the collective. She chose to turn something scary and painful into something healing and world-changing. Helping another person is the best therapy.”

On her relationship with Australia: “I spent some really special years there in my childhood. It was such a great thing not growing up in LA full-time because, you know, I didn’t turn into a horrific Hollywood brat. [Laughs] No, I’m kidding. I got to go to school barefoot in the red earth, literally live next door to a rainforest. I had such a deep connection to nature, and so many of my closest friends and family – they’re all there. So it’s a really special place to me and it was home to my mum. She was a really proud, patriotic Australian. I absolutely plan on spending as much time as I can there – I’d really like to

spend more time at the hospital [the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre at Melbourne’s Austin Hospital].”

“I want to rally and encourage everyone to get together, like my mum did,” Lattanzi says of the Walk for Wellness in Melbourne in October. Picture: Beau Grealy for Stellar

On how she plans to mark the one-year anniversary of her mother’s passing this Tuesday, August 8: “I’m going to be spending the day with a mother figure, going to do the things that my mum liked to do. When I think about the day, it quite honestly just shatters me. That’s the truth. It shatters me. But I know that she’s guiding me and she’s with me.”

On her mother’s annual event, Olivia’s Walk For Wellness, which will mark its 10th year on October 8 at Melbourne’s Alexandra Gardens, and for which Lattanzi is helping to raise funds for the Cancer Wellness & Research Centre: “It means everything. She said, ‘You’re going to carry the torch for me, darling, but you’re going to shine your own unique light.’ I want to rally and encourage everyone to get together, like my mum did. She looked forward to it so much. And before the Wellness Centre was even a concept, [Alexandra Gardens] was where she and I, mother and daughter, would walk together and have our chats and connect. That’s where my grandmother walked with us before she passed; she lived right by the botanical gardens and she has her own [crying]... excuse me, her own bench there. So [I’m] encouraging and rallying people to get together and raise awareness and donate. She loved this walk. And I’m grateful that I’m well enough now to continue her legacy and keep her dream alive, and expand on it. I worked hard to get Grease [The Musical, which returns to Australian stages with a new show in December] to be at the walk and perform. I wanted this year to be fun for people because I know it’s going to be hard without my mother. I wanted to bring something that’s a hallmark – the absolute reminder of my mum. Please sign up. We need donations to keep the centre alive. You can walk with us virtually if you can’t walk physically.”

Lattanzi is currently working on new music. Picture: Beau Grealy for Stellar

On her memories of recording music with her mother (their song ‘You Have To Believe’ – a dance remix of Newton-John’s number-one hit ‘Magic’ from the soundtrack to her 1980 film Xanadu – was itself a number-one hit in 2015, and will feature on the upcoming album Just The Two Of Us: The Duets Collection Volume Two, a collection of songs by Newton-John with her fellow performers that will be released on October 6): “I look up to her so much, so I would get nervous singing in front of my mum. I’d be worried about making a mistake – instead of going in for my heart and getting into the feeling – so I’d have to ask her, ‘Mum, I’m so sorry. Can you step out?’ Not because I didn’t want her there, but because in that space, it wasn’t Mum – it was Olivia. It was intimidating. I did my vocals alone, but she understood and was very compassionate.”

On her own musical aspirations: “I’ve been recording music and working on some projects with Sloane Howard, [who is Australian singer-songwriter] The Kid Laroi’s mother – who has been such a support and really helped me during this time, grief-wise, and guiding me career-wise. Things have been going at a slower pace, because of grief and all the other things that come along with it, and happily taking on the responsibility as the face and continued spirit of my mum’s hospital. But I’m very excited to get it out there. I can hear my mum saying, ‘Get out there, girl!’”

On continuing to honour and build upon her mother’s legacy: “None of us get out of this alive. We’re all going to meet on the other side, and we’ve got to – like my mum said – enjoy every day. Even if it’s difficult, find the beauty... even in the pain, if you can. This is such a short experience, right? So we have got to make the most of every moment and be present in as much as we can. That’s what I really, really learnt from her.”

To sign up or donate to Olivia’s Walk For Wellness, visit walkforwellness.com.au.

Read the full interview inside The Sunday Telegraph (NSW), Sunday Herald Sun (VIC), The Sunday Mail (QLD), and Sunday Mail (SA) this weekend.

Originally published as World exclusive: Chloe Lattanzi on the first anniversary of Olivia Newton-John’s death