Olivia Newton-John, the singer and Grease star, calls herself a “cancer thriver.” It’s a mantra she’s given herself after living with the disease since 1992.
In an interview with Closer Weekly, which was released Sunday, Newton-John talked about her initial diagnosis and how she dealt with breast cancer when it came back in 2013 and 2017. She told the site “I feel good.”
And she’s taken control of her treatment, using holistic medicine to go with the conventional. There’s now an Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre in Melbourne, Australia, her hometown.
She said she likes that the foundation is concentrating on research that looks “into treating people in a kinder way.”
“After having lived for years with different cancers, and having surgery, chemotherapy and radiation,” says Olivia Newton-John, “I thought it would be wonderful if we could find different kinds of treatments for people going through cancer.
“I’ve been lucky enough to be married to an amazing man, “Amazon” John, who’s a plant medicine man. So I’ve taken a lot of plant medicine over the last years and have done well. We want to raise money to fund the studies on plant medicine.”
She married John Easterling in 2008. He’s her second husband and was with her for two of the cancer recurrences. She said her cancer now is considered stage four.
Olivia Newton-John Uses Cannabis, Switched to Vegan Diet to Help Treat Her Cancer
“There are a lot of herbs I take,” Olivia Newton-John said. “And over the last 10 years, I’ve used cannabis. My husband makes me tinctures that help me immensely with pain, inflammation, sleep and anxiety. I’d like to research all that and find out what else is going on because I feel good.”
The singer/actress also said she switched to a vegan diet. She said her daughter inspired the switch in diets.
“I feel very good,” she said. “I try to do something for myself every day that I love, like seeing my horses or sitting in the garden.”
“Nature is my favorite thing,” she said. “It’s very healing to watch birds. I also have miniature horses, chickens, dogs and a cat. I feel very fortunate to be in a quiet place and out of a city.”
Earlier this year, Olivia Newton-John and her daughter Chloe released a duet — The Window in the Wall.
“I’ve always enjoyed singing duets more than singing on my own,” Olivia Newton-John said. “And when I first heard this song, I knew immediately that I wanted to sing it with my daughter Chloe.
“The lyrics and melody really resonated with me and I hoped Chloe would feel the same way – and luckily she did!”
The two also released a duet in 2015.
Produced by six-time Grammy Award-winner Dave Cobb, ‘The Window in the Wall’ is the latest collaboration from Olivia and Chloe, who is Olivia’s daughter with actor Matt Lattanzi.
The pair previously released You Have to Believe. That was a cover of Newton-Johnson’s hit single from the movie musical Xanadu.
