Olivia Newton-John, LGBTQ+ Ally, Has Died At 73
August 10, 2022John Easterling, the husband of singer, actress and LGBTQ+ ally Olivia Newton-John announced, via Facebook, the news that she had died, aged 73.
As the Washington Blade writes, Newton-John had been battling breast cancer for over three decades, her first cancer diagnosis in 1992 when she was 44. Although she had previously seen her cancer in remission, in 2017 she was diagnosed again.
In October 2020, the pop star and actor spoke about her third diagnosis of cancer in an interview with the Guardian. “Three times lucky, right? I’m going to look at it like that. Listen, I think every day is a blessing. You never know when your time is over; we all have a finite amount of time on this planet, and we just need to be grateful for that.”
The cancer’s return in 2017 was, she said, not unexpected. “It’s been a part of my life for so long. I felt something was wrong. It’s concerning when it comes back, but I thought: ‘I’ll get through it again.’”
“I don’t think of myself as sick with cancer,” she said in the interview. “I choose not to see it as a fight either because I don’t like war. I don’t like fighting wherever it is – whether it’s outside or an actual war inside my body. I choose not to see it that way. I want to get my body healthy and back in balance. Part of that is your mental attitude to it. If you think: ‘Poor me,’ or ‘I’m sick,’ then you’re going to be sick.”
She was probably best known for her role in Grease, the American musical romantic comedy film.
Newton-John was an ally to the LGBTQ+ community. She was always appreciative of her LGBTQ+ fans. In an interview with Logo/MTV she noted: “The gay fans have always been very loyal, they are a really great audience and have always been there for me.”
In addition to her husband, she is survived by her 36-year-old daughter, Chloe Lattanzi. The family asked for donations to be made to her cancer organization, the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund, in lieu of flowers.
Read related myGwork articles here:
Longtime LGBTQ+ Ally Betty White Has Died At 99
Why I Am an Ally for the LGBTQ+ Community
DOs and Don’ts when being an LGBTQ+ ally
Keep up to date with the latest myGnews