She only recently released a book, but Olivia Newton-John – who is managing stage four breast cancer – still has a lot of stories to tell.
Woman’s Day has learned the brave Aussie singer has started recording her memories to allow fans to hear the truth about her life in her own words.
“She spends hours holed up in her study with a voice recorder. It’s a bit of rambling right now but she’s looking forward to tidying it all up,” says a source.
“This has been a hobby since she won her first battle with cancer, but lately it’s taken on a life of its own. She has investigators digging up sound bytes and transcripts from old radio and TV interviews, too. She wants to set up an online record of her life.”
With Patrick in 2005, before his disappearance.
(Image: Getty)So why now, even though she just released her biography Don’t Stop Believin’ two years ago?
“She loves her book, but even she admits she left some of the juicier details out of it,” says a source.
“If Olivia is going to reveal her deepest feelings and thoughts, she wants it to be in her own voice so there’s no room for confusion.”
“I found the love of my life at 59,” Olivia says of John.
(Image: Getty)Even as one of our most-loved sweethearts, Olivia, 71, has seen her fair share of scandal and drama, including her boyfriend of nine years Patrick McDermott going missing at sea, a contractor dying by suicide in 2013 inside the Florida home she shared with her now-husband John Easterling, a divorce from her first husband Matt Lattanzi, and their daughter Chloe’s drug binges and eating disorder.
“It certainly hasn’t been all workout videos and hit musicals for Olivia and she’s finally ready to address the darker side of her life,” says our insider.
“She’s spoken a little about Patrick’s disappearance before, but never in depth. He’s been gone 15 years now and she finally feels ready.”
Patrick vanished in 2005 during an overnight fishing trip near LA, and is officially “missing presumed dead”, though some believe he is alive and living under an alias in Central America.
With Matt in Paris in 1980.
(Image: Getty)“Olivia went through hell over that for years,” says a source.
“All the unanswered questions about Patrick going missing had her close to being addicted to antidepressants.
But she was strong enough to get herself off the pills before becoming dependent.
“She wants to share that experience in more detail to help others stay away from pills. It feels poignant that it’s the anniversary of his disappearance, which has made it somehow easier for her to record her memories of that painful time.”
Our insider says she may also address for the first time her doomed marriage to Matt Lattanzi, who she divorced in 1995 after 11 years of marriage.
“Having Chloe together kept their marriage alive a few years longer than it should have. They weren’t suited, and she went through a traumatic time accepting that,” says a source.
“He had trouble coming to terms with the fact that his career was stalling while her success was limitless.”
Grease with John Travolta was her most iconic movie moment, in 1978.
(Image: Getty)The source says Olivia and Matt – who met while filming Xanadu in 1980 – have buried their past and become friends after uniting to save their daughter Chloe, who is now 34 and lives in Portland, Oregon.
“There was a point in Chloe’s young life when Olivia thought she was going to lose her – and it wasn’t long after Patrick left, either,” says a source.
“Chloe was out on benders, taking god knows what with god knows who, and losing weight at an alarming rate. Olivia and Matt blamed themselves and their divorce for Chloe’s trauma and banded together to pull her back from the brink. It has worked, in some ways.”
“Chloe is happy and healthy now, and Olivia’s looking forward to talking about how proud she is of her daughter. These tapes will be a lasting legacy for Chloe to hold dear when Olivia has gone.”
