00:00It's been nearly four years since Olivia Newton-John passed away from breast cancer
00:04at the age of 73.
00:06And now a new biography is shedding light on a dark chapter of her past.
00:10The Grease star's ex-boyfriend, Patrick McDermott, went missing off the coast of Los Angeles
00:1521 years ago, but the singer actually suspected he'd been killed or drowned.
00:20In A Little More Love, The Life and Legacy of Olivia Newton-John, author Matthew Hilde
00:25dives into the cameraman's mysterious 2005 disappearance.
00:29The writer interviewed many of Newton-John's friends and colleagues for the book, and one
00:34told Hilde what the four-time Grammy winner really believed happened to her on-again, off-again
00:39partner.
00:39She thought he'd been killed, Newton-John's friend and collaborator Leona Boyd, told Hilde,
00:44per People magazine.
00:45She thought he drowned.
00:47She didn't believe all the rumors about the sightings in Mexico.
00:50She said, no, I don't believe that.
00:52The physical singer described the pair's relationship as on-again, off-again in her
00:562018 memoir, and revealed she and McDermott were off again at the time of his disappearance,
01:01during an overnight fishing trip in June 2005.
01:05Rumors swirled that he staged his disappearance and ran away to Mexico amid money problems.
01:10But according to Hilde's upcoming book, Newton-John approached a security expert named Gavin de Becker,
01:15who sent private eyes down to Mexico in search of her missing ex, to no avail.
01:20The U.S. Coast Guard concluded McDermott was likely lost at sea, following investigations
01:25that ended in 2008.
01:27The Aussie icon ultimately moved on and married her second husband, businessman John Esterling,
01:31in 2008.
01:33The book also gives insight into Olivia Newton-John's bond with her Grease co-star, John Travolta.
01:38According to the biography, the pair would have dated if it weren't for the actor's devotion
01:42to Scientology.
01:43Writer Matthew Hilde shared a conversation she reportedly had with a musician who joined her
01:48band and who had been married to a Scientologist.
01:51Per an excerpt from the book, she asked,
01:53I know the Church of Scientology really reveres Travolta as a very valuable follower.
01:57If I had married John, would he have expected me to become a Scientologist?
02:01The bandmate who described the co-stars as very, very close, and almost that close, reportedly
02:07told Newton-John that it would not have been mandatory for her to convert, but it would have been encouraged.
02:13Thank you, the singer replied, per Hild's book.
02:15That's all I want to know.
02:17Newton-John also explained why they didn't date behind the scenes of Grease on the No Filter
02:21podcast in 2018, four years before her death.
02:25We were both with other people when we were filming and I think, respectfully, it just didn't happen.
02:30I think it was good because I think it kept the tension there and the chemistry.
02:33It might have been a real disaster had we decided to date or we had a falling out or something.
02:38So I think it was just as well that it didn't happen.
02:44Well, Sandy and Danny's chemistry was undeniable, so maybe it's best they kept it on screen.
02:49Hey, they'll always have those summer nights.
02:52Let us know.
03:06Thanks for listening.
03:06Bye.
03:07Bye.
03:07Bye.
03:07Bye.
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