Highlights
- Olivia Newton-John was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992.
- Soon after her diagnosis, Newton-John experienced family tragedy.
- Despite battling breast cancer three times, Newton-John maintained a positive outlook.
When Julia Louis-Dreyfus got cancer, she revealed what she was going through to the world. On the other hand, Sofia Vergara didn't want her fans to know she once beat cancer and Paul Reubens' fans didn't know about his cancer until he died.
Just like Louis-Dreyfus, Olivia Newton-John was very open with her fans when she fought and beat cancer. However, what most observers never knew is that battling cancer was very hard for Newton-John due to a family tragedy she suffered.
What Type Of Cancer Did Olivia Newton-John Have?
During Olivia Newton-John's acting and music careers, she accomplished more than enough to be considered a legend. Even though Newton-John passed away in 2022, her legacy will live on for decades after she passed.
Forever best known as the star of Grease, Newton-John's portrayal of Sandy Olsson will go down in history. Seemingly the picture of health during the filming of Grease, millions of people wish they could look as beautiful as Newton-John did in that film for just one day.
What many of Newton-John's film fans don't realize, however, is starring in Grease wasn't the most incredible thing she did. Instead, it could easily be argued that the heroism and courage Newton-John exhibited in her real life is what should go down in history.
In 1992, Newton-John received the kind of news that nobody wants to get. Following the release of her latest album at the time, Newton-John was promoting her music and planning to go on tour. Then, all of those plans went out the window when Newton-John was diagnosed with breast cancer.
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After her initial diagnosis, Newton-John fought hard to overcome breast cancer and she prevailed. However, Newton-John would receive the same diagnosis a couple more times in her life. Even though Newton-John fought breast cancer three times, she somehow managed to maintain a positive outlook.
In 2020, Newton-John spoke to The Guardian about what she has learned from her years of battling cancer. Amazingly enough, Newton-John actually told the publication she was thankful for what she went through.
“I don’t know what I would be without it now. I see it as my life’s journey. It gave me purpose and intention and taught me a lot about compassion. It has been a gift. I don’t wish it on anyone else. But for me, it’s been important in my life.”
While it is incredible to know that Newton-John remained so positive about her cancer journey, there is much more to her story. On top of using her inner strength to fight her own battle against cancer, Newton-John inspired countless others who were in a similar situation.
Since Newton-John became such an inspiring figure for people dealing with cancer, facilities named after her opened in her hometown of Melbourne. First off, the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre opened in 2012. Three years later, a different facility was renamed the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research.
On the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research's website, the good work being done at the facility is described this way. "More than 140 research studies are under way, and at any one time our scientists are involved in up to 200 ongoing clinical trials. We draw on our close relationship between research and care to continually improve the lives of people living with cancer."
The website for the facility also contains a quote from Newton-John that is extremely revealing. As the quote makes clear, Newton-John not only wanted to help other people survive cancer, she wanted to make them have better lives.
"From my own experience I know that a positive mind and a supportive environment, alongside integrative wellness care and medical treatment, played a huge role in my healing. It’s not just about treating cancer; it’s about treating the whole person – body, mind and spirit."
After Newton-John's 2022 passing, her grieving husband John Easterling put out a statement about her incredible life. In his statement, Easterling paid tribute to his late wife's lasting legacy of helping those in need.
“Olivia has been a symbol of triumphs and hope for over 30 years sharing her journey with breast cancer. Her healing inspiration and pioneering experience with plant medicine continues with the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund, dedicated to researching plant medicine and cancer."
What Makes Olivia Newton-John's Cancer Battle So Inspiring?
Unless someone has been diagnosed with a serious type of cancer, there is no way for them to know what that feels like. What is clear, however, is that kind of cancer diagnosis can be terrifying and that many people struggle to deal with that reality.
When Olivia Newton-John was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, her situation was even worse than usual. The reason that is the case was that Newton-John suffered a pair of tragedies in the months before her diagnosis.
Since Newton-John was close friends with a woman named Nancy Chuda, she became the godmother of her daughter Colette Chuda. In late-1991 when Colette Chuda was only five years old, she tragically passed away from a form of childhood cancer called a Wilms tumor.
Roughly a year later in November, Newton-John received her own cancer diagnosis. Tragically for Newton-John, that wasn't the only tragedy she suffered around that time.
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Only two weeks before Newton-John's diagnosis, her father Brinley Newton-John passed away. While Brinley Newton-John was 78 years old at the time of his passing, it was the circumstances of his death that made it worse.
Brinley Newton-John took his final breath after he succumbed to the liver cancer he'd been fighting at that time.
In the weeks and months before Newton-John's diagnosis, she lost two people to cancer that she cared deeply about. That fact makes her ability to stay positive throughout her own cancer battle even more heroic than it obviously was without knowing that context.
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