00:00And a mother and daughter's special bond.
00:06If anyone doesn't deserve to go through cancer, it's my mom.
00:09The greatest achievement.
00:10She's my daughter, you know, she's part of me.
00:13In Olivia's wonderful life.
00:15Okay.
00:16Excellent.
00:17Well done.
00:18Good job.
00:19I'm Liz Hayes.
00:23I'm Tom Steinfeld.
00:25I'm Tara Brown.
00:27I'm Liam Bartlett.
00:28I'm Sarah Arbo.
00:30I'm Nick McKenzie.
00:32And this is 60 Minutes.
00:40Coming up.
00:41If anyone doesn't deserve to go through cancer, it's my mom.
00:45The greatest achievement.
00:46She's my daughter, you know, she's part of me.
00:49In Olivia Newton-John's wonderful life.
00:53Well done.
00:55Good job.
00:57It's next on 60 Minutes.
01:01Olivia Newton-John, the 60 Minutes special presentation, must see, next online.
01:14A singer, an actor, a campaigner who raised millions to find a cure for cancer.
01:20Olivia Newton-John didn't waste a moment of her 73 years.
01:25But there was also always time for her greatest love, her family.
01:30And especially her daughter, Chloe Latanzi.
01:34Three years ago, Olivia invited me to her ranch in Southern California for what turned
01:39out to be one of her last Australian interviews.
01:43And it was there I saw what a beautiful mother-daughter bond Olivia and Chloe shared.
01:51Olivia Newton-John spent most of her life taking centre stage.
01:56Your Excellency, I present to you, Olivia Newton-John.
01:59But on this day, three years ago, it felt different.
02:03Has been awarded as a companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia.
02:07I was there in Los Angeles to watch Australia's sweetheart receive the nation's highest honour.
02:13One of the final nods to a woman whose life had already achieved so much.
02:22Because all of you have meant very much to me in my life in different ways.
02:27And being a part of why I'm here.
02:29With her daughter Chloe and husband John by her side, as well as a small gathering of
02:34her closest friends, we saw a very reflective Olivia.
02:38I'm really grateful to Australia and to this amazing honour.
02:43And I'll continue to do my best for a country I love very much.
02:47And I've always felt it was my home, even though I live here.
02:50I'm going to cry now.
02:52Thank you.
02:53Thank you.
02:54Olivia Newton-John has always been one of us.
02:59And inspiring us as she squared up to her own mortality.
03:05In 2019, she talked to me about the cancer that has stalked her for so long.
03:12I'm so lucky that I've been through this three times and I'm still here.
03:16I'm living with it.
03:18So it just reinforced my gratitude because, you know, we all, we know we're going to die
03:24at some point.
03:25Unfortunately, being humans, we have that knowledge.
03:28It's a bugger, isn't it?
03:29And we don't know when it is.
03:31When you're given a cancer diagnosis or a scary illness diagnosis, you're suddenly given
03:36a possibility of a time limit.
03:39The truth is you get hit by a truck tomorrow, you know, you don't know.
03:42So every day is a gift now, you know, particularly now.
03:48No one's ever given you a time.
03:51Time's up in whenever.
03:53No one said that to you?
03:54No, but if you started reading statistics on what you have, you could get into that.
03:58I don't.
03:59I don't read statistics.
04:00How did you avoid that?
04:02One part of me would want to know, but the other part would be, I don't really want to
04:05know.
04:06Well, it's if you believe it, you see, if you believe the statistics, you're going to
04:10make them happen.
04:11If somebody tells you, you have six months to live, very possibly you will because you
04:16believe that.
04:17So for me, psychologically, it's better not to have any ideas of what they expect or what
04:23the last person that had what you have lived.
04:26So I don't, I don't tune in.
04:28It's just better for me.
04:30How do you look at death?
04:33A long way away.
04:42Spending time with Olivia at her sprawling Santa Barbara ranch in California gave me
04:48the chance to meet her beloved daughter, 36-year-old Chloe Latanzi.
04:54Chloe had never spoken publicly about her mother until this interview.
05:00We don't talk about it.
05:02You don't need to talk about it?
05:03We don't, no, we don't need to talk about it.
05:05If she's having a day where she needs to talk about it, I'm there to listen and to always
05:12reassure her.
05:13I'll never bring it up unless she wants to.
05:16Do you know what I mean?
05:19Understanding cancer is something Chloe had to do ever since she was a child, when she
05:24first learned of her mother's illness from another pupil while attending school in Australia.
05:32That obviously profoundly affected you at that time.
05:35I was upset with her because I wanted to take care of her.
05:39I said, why didn't you tell me I could have taken care of you?
05:42You know, I felt like my mom's protector, I think.
05:46What difference would it have made to you, do you think, if you'd known?
05:49I developed a fear of sudden illnesses, right?
05:53I think that maybe not talking about it made it more powerful because it created a much
05:58bigger monster.
06:00You learn about it as a little girl, it goes away, but then it comes back again.
06:06Yeah.
06:07I was in shock, angry, denial.
06:16I kind of pushed it, I didn't deal with it.
06:20And then we hear about it, it's a third time.
06:24I didn't really like that everyone knew.
06:27It annoyed me.
06:29And why?
06:31I just felt protective and I didn't like these strangers giving me advice or telling me what
06:39my mom should or shouldn't, like, I was just pissed.
06:42I was mad because if anyone doesn't deserve to go through cancer, it's my mom.
06:50I felt like my mom and my family needed to be protected and I didn't want them to write
06:55stories and make her be reminded that she's sick or say things, you know, like she's looking
07:02sick and I didn't want anyone to instill any kind of fear in her.
07:08She says it's still difficult to talk with you about your cancer and not get scared.
07:14I understand that.
07:16She sees that I just want to get on with it and, you know, sometimes we'll talk about
07:23it a little, a little, but it's not something that we talk about a lot and that's fine.
07:28She understands.
07:29She has the same kind of instincts that I do.
07:32Is it harder to talk to her about it perhaps than it is to us?
07:36Yes, I think so, yeah.
07:39Because she's so close.
07:40She's my daughter, you know, she's part of me and I know that she gets affected but she's
07:44very strong and she doesn't really show me that.
07:48Can I give you a hug?
07:51Please, absolutely.
07:52Thanks.
07:53Happy to give you a hug.
07:54I hand it out.
07:55But as strong as Chloe tried to be, it was clear her mother's battle with cancer was
08:01deeply traumatic.
08:02I didn't realise that would be hard.
08:05Okay.
08:06Yeah.
08:07It's hard sometimes, isn't it, to chat about the person you love most?
08:11Because we don't talk about it.
08:12That's right.
08:13In her final years, Olivia Newton-John was happiest at home, chatting to her horses and
08:31painting while soaking up the afternoon sun.
08:35Aussie salute going on here.
08:39I'm loving being at home and I have things, things going on, but not live performances.
08:48So it's a really lovely time.
08:50I'm getting to watch daytime television.
08:52How's that going?
08:53And catch up on series.
08:55It's great.
08:59It's where she was when she took her last breaths this week, surrounded by those who
09:04loved her most and the daughter who will miss her forever.
09:11She's amazing to me because of her heart.
09:13She's amazing to me because of her, her sense of humour and her wit.
09:17She's amazing to me because she's Liv, my mum, not because she's Olivia Newton-John.
09:22I couldn't care less.
09:23And I think that's really important for my mum.
09:25We were going to do it, remember, for days we talked about it.
09:30You know, I told her, as mum, you're enough, you, just you.
09:35You don't have to do anything.
09:36You don't have to perform for anyone.
09:38You are so beautiful and vibrant just sitting there.
09:41And I just want to see her be okay, to just relax and be with her dog and be with me.
09:50She's just whole and perfect as her, doesn't need a name.
09:59Olivia was clearly and rightly very proud of her daughter.
10:04Of course, our thoughts are with Chloe and Olivia's husband, John Easterling.
10:09And that's our regular program for tonight.
10:12But keep watching because coming up now, a special 60 Minutes tribute to this wonderful
10:18Australian.
10:19Olivia Newton-John, a celebration of life, is reported by Carl Stefanovic.
