Melissa Etheridge remembers Olivia Newton-John as a 'good friend' ahead of Pink's AMA tribute
Singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge recalls the late Olivia Newton-John as a "beautiful, delightful, loving, talented person" when speaking with Fox News Digital on the AMA red carpet.
Chloe Lattanzi, Olivia Newton-John's daughter, honored her mother at her state memorial service in Australia Sunday.
Olivia Newton-John died on August 8 at her ranch in Southern California after a 30-year journey with breast cancer. She was 73.
The Australian singer was known just as much for her top hits, including "Physical," "Magic" and "You're the One That I Want," as she was for her starring role alongside John Travolta in the classic film, "Grease."
"My heart is broken in two. The other half is with my mama. I know she's holding it for me until we meet again," Lattanzi said.
Chloe Lattanzi delivers heartfelt eulogy to her mother, Olivia Newton-John. (Getty Images)
Chloe stood in front of mourners with her husband by her side for added strength as she remembered her "safe space" – her mom – at the Hamer Hall, Arts Centre in Melbourne.
"I stand here before you so desperately wanting to feel strong and confident and speak eloquently, but the truth is, I feel like a little girl lost without her mother," she said.
"She was my safe space, my guide, my biggest fan, and the earth beneath my feet. I know she's here, standing beside me and within me. I can hear her voice ‘You’re safe my darling, don't be afraid, you're so much stronger than you think. Speak from your heart, that's all you have to do.'"
OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN'S DAUGHTER, HUSBAND DO FIRST INTERVIEW SINCE STAR'S DEATH, SHARE HER FINAL WORDS
Chloe is Olivia's only daughter from her first marriage to Matt Lattanzi. They walked down the aisle in 1984 and ended their relationship in 1995.
Chloe Lattanzi said her mom Olivia Newton-John was her "safe space." (Asanka Ratnayake)
"Coming from my heart, I'd like to share some of my favorite memories of my mom with you," she said. "I loved laughing with my mom. We shared the same cackle. She didn't tell dirty jokes, but she laughed the hardest at them. I'm looking at you John Farrar."
Chloe remembered their shared love of "watching trashy TV show" together in secret, and they would "immediately changed the channel when John walked in the room. We pretended we were watching educational shows about plant medicine."
Newton-John married John Easterling on top of a mountain in Peru during an Incan spiritual wedding ceremony in 2008. They returned to Florida and made their union legal with a beachfront wedding on Jupiter Island on June 30.
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John Easterling remembers wife Olivia Newton-John at state memorial in Australia. (Asanka Ratnayake)
Easterling founded Amazon Herb Company, and formulated a special blend of cannabis called "Olivia's Choice" for his wife, who was also an advocate for the plant medicine. She was previously in a relationship with Patrick McDermott, who mysteriously vanished in 2005 following an overnight fishing trip out of Los Angeles.
"My mom could find the beauty in everything. My favorite thing to do was watch her watching the birds and the flowers, smelling the roses and the joy it brought to her face was a thing of beauty," she remembered. "I loved making her tea and then making it five times again til i got it right.
"I loved our snuggles. I would crawl into bed with her late at night, even until I was 20 years old. I loved the way that she smelled. Nothing felt safer to me."
Olivia Newton-John and daughter Chloe Lattanzi were fiercely close and protective over each other. (Paul Redmond)
Actors John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John embrace in a promotional still for the film, 'Grease,' directed by Randal Kleiser, 1978. (Paramount Pictures)
"I loved writing music and singing with her, and how she would always notice if I was slightly off-key," Chloe said. Lattanzi and her mom collaborated on the single "The Window in the Wall" in January 2021, a follow-up to their 2016 hit "You Have to Believe."
"I love how she loved fully and completely, and I know that she would want me to tell each and every one of you how grateful she was for each individual special relationship. She cherished her friends and her family and she was so grateful to her fans, and she loved you all so dearly," Lattanzi said. "She would want us all to laugh and reminisce together in joy and celebrate her life.
"This life experience is temporary, and my mother is the perfect example of a life truly lived."
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