Pop superstar and LGBTQ ally Olivia Newton-John shared a sunny, upbeat video greeting via social media on Wednesday dispelling unfounded rumors that the actress & singer was ’clinging to life’ and only had ‘weeks’ to live.
After weeks of tabloid headlines like ‘The End’ and ‘Going Home To Die,’ the Grease star stepped in front of her phone camera and hit ‘record.’
Without naming any publications or websites, the result was a lesson in how to handle a situation with class.
"Happy New Year, everyone!” begins a radiant Olivia from her home in California.
With a smile on her face and a laugh in her voice, she continues, "I just want to say the rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated, to quote a very famous quote, and I’m doing great and I want to wish all of you the happiest, healthiest 2019 that’s possible."
"Thank you all for the wonderful love and support for me and for my Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness Centre in Melbourne, Australia,” she added.
And, done.
At this writing the Facebook video has over 1.4 million views and been shared more than 21,000 times in less than 24 hours.
Newton-John’s publicist, Michael Caprio, told USA Today that "the reports are quite ridiculous – but what do you expect when the source is the Enquirer and Radar?”
The 70-year-old music icon is currently facing a relapse of her breast cancer that was first diagnosed in 1992, when she was one of the first celebrities to go public with a cancer diagnosis.
She overcame the disease then, but twenty-five years later, in 2017, the cancer had returned.
Newton-John shared that she was treating the cancer with a combination of traditional science (like radiation treatments) as well as natural remedies including cannabis oil.
She’s since become an advocate for the medical use of cannabis, telling Australia’s Channel 7, “My dream is that, in Australia soon, it will be available to all the cancer patients and people going through cancer that causes pain.”
Through all of this, the Physical singer has repeated the importance of a positive outlook when facing a serious diagnosis.
“I have no pain and life is wonderful,” she told Channel 7. “I’m treating it naturally and doing really well.”
It was that perspective that inspired her to raise tens of millions of dollars to help build the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre in Melbourne, Australia.
A favorite of the LGBTQ community for decades, Newton-John has long been an ally and advocate for us. In 2012, she was one of the first Australian celebrities to speak out in support of marriage equality ‘down under,’ and has celebrated Pride with us in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Sydney.
The 70-year-old has penned a memoir set for release in the U.S. on March 12.
The title of the autobiography, taken from one of her hits, is totally Olivia: Don't Stop Believin.'
Here’s to starting 2019 with an outlook as positive and upbeat as Olivia.
