Inside Olivia Newton-John’s very public heartbreak when her husband ran off with the couple’s 23-year-old babysitter during charity ride while she battled breast cancer
- Olivia Newton-John’s first marriage ended when husband ran off with their babysitter Cindy Jessup, then 23
- Matt Lattanzi was 11 years younger than the singer when the pair married in 1984 and then divorced in 1995
- Lattanzi struck up ‘very close’ relationship with Cindy as singer battled breast cancer for the first time
- The couple split after Newton-John confronted Lattanzi over her suspicions about their relationshi
- After the divorce married Jessup, then 28, in 1997 but the former couple later divorced in 2007
- Read more: Olivia’s daughter Chloe Lattanzi breaks her silence and shares touching tribute to her mother
Olivia Newton-John’s first marriage ended in heartbreak when her husband ran off with the couple’s young babysitter while the singer was fighting breast cancer.
Dancer Matt Lattanzi split with Newton-John after he was confronted over his ‘very close’ relationship with Cindy Jessup, then 23, during a cancer charity cycle ride.
The Aussie legend divorced him in 1995 and Lattanzi, then 40, married his young lover two years later – but Newton-John refused to be bitter over the split.
‘She’s delighted,’ a friend insisted to reporters at the time of the wedding.
‘It looks bad, because Cindy would often babysit his daughter and she was a friend of his and Olivia’s – but in those days there was no romance.’
Bitter end: Olivia Newton-John’s first marriage ended in heartbreak when husband Matt Lattanzi (right) ran off with the couple’s young babysitter Cindy Jessup (left in 1994) while the singer was fighting breast cancer
Newton-John married American Lattanzi – 11 years younger than her – after the pair met on the set of Xanadu in 1980 when she was 32 and he was 21.
Despite the age gap, they immediately had chemistry, Newton-John revealed, and dated for four years before getting married in 1984 and had daughter Chloe in 1986.
But the marriage hit the rocks after the singer’s cancer diagnosis in 1992 and she put her career on ice to focus on her recovery.
The couple left their home in Malibu, California to move to the tranquillity of her farm near idyllic Byron Bay in northern NSW, but the move ultimately killed her marriage.
‘When I had breast cancer I thought then that would be it,’ she admitted to the Daily Mail in 2005.
‘I went to my farm near Byron Bay and seriously thought about retiring.’
Lattanzi was starring in Aussie soap Paradise Beach in 1993 when the busy couple hired Jessup to help look after Chloe and she quickly became part of the family.
His lover: Olivia Newton-John and Matt Lattanzi hired Cindy Jessup (left) to help look after daughter Chloe and she quickly became part of the family (Cindy pictured in 1994)
In memory: Newton-John’s Instagram was mostly made up of flashback posts from throughout her career, but on April 18 the star shared a rare candid photo of herself with a beaming smile beside a bed of sunflowers
Jessup cycled from Sydney to Perth in 1994 in aid of Newton-John’s charity, supported on the three-month journey by the singer and her husband.
But Newton-John began to have suspicions about the relationship between Jessup and Lattanzi – and reportedly confronted him in an agonising showdown.
The row led to Lattanzi moving in with Jessup and divorcing the singer in 1995 before the he married his former babysitter in 1997, when he was 40 and she was 28.
‘I am so fortunate,’ he said at the time. ‘I couldn’t ask for a better outcome.’
He’s not to blame: Newton-John continued to blame her fight with cancer for what she said was the inevitable end of her marriage, and not husband Matt Lattanzi’s love for their babysitter
Newton-John continued to blame her fight with cancer for what she said was the inevitable end of her marriage, and not her husband’s love for the babysitter.
‘I think our marriage would have eventually come to an end, but it happened sooner because of the cancer, which was a good thing,’ she told the Daily Mail.
‘It was very painful, but we were never at odds with each other.
‘We have tried to remain friendly because we have a child and we made a pact that she was the most important thing in our lives and that we would never fight over her. What happened between us was between us, and we wouldn’t allow it to affect her.’
She added: ‘Divorce is never all right. Everybody wants the happy ending and the white picket fence, particularly me. My own parents divorced when I was 10 and, maybe because of that, I kept putting marriage off.
‘When I did get married, I wanted it to last for ever, but that wasn’t to be.’
It was not to last for Jessup and Lattanzi either, with the couple splitting after 10 years of marriage in 2007.
Jessup’s acting career was brief and uneventful too, appearing in a little-known one-hour videos Prescription for Peril in 1999 and Tied Up All Night in 2000.
Olivia Newton-John’s daughter Chloe Lattanzi shared a touching tribute to her late mother on Wednesday by posting a music video they had filmed together. Pictured above
Alongside the music video for Chloe and Olivia’s duet Window in the Wall, Chloe, 36, wrote: ‘You are my lighthouse mama. My safe place. My heart space’
Lattanzi’s career – which saw him appear in Grease 2, starring Michelle Pfeiffer in 1982, the flop follow up to Newton-John and John Travolta’s global smash original – also ground to a halt in the wake of his split with Newton-John.
He never worked again on screen following his Paradise Beach stint in 1993 and is now 63, remarried, and living in Oregon in the US.
How Olivia spoke about contemplating death in one of her final haunting interviews
Olivia Newton-John revealed she had contemplated the prospect of dying following her cancer diagnosis in one of the final interviews before her tragic death.
During an interview on Sarah Grynberg’s A Life of Greatness podcast last year, the Australian icon said: ‘We all know we’re going to die, but I think we spend our lives in denial. It’s extremely personal so it’s hard to put into words.
‘I feel that we are all one thing and I’ve had experiences with spirits and spirit life. I believe there is something that happens.
‘I hope the energies of the people you love will be there… I think all the love will be there. I’m sort of looking forward to that, not now, but when it happens.’
His third wife Michelle was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2014 but is in remission and the couple now run the 115-acre Laughing Dog medicinal cannabis farm.
Michelle Lattanzi paid tribute to her husband’s ex-wife on social media on Tuesday, saying the world had lost an icon.
‘Today we lost one of the world’s greats Olivia Newton-John,’ she posted on behalf of the couple. Matt and I are so overwhelmed with the love and gratitude shared with us by friends, family and a deeply loving community of fans who will all miss Olivia’s presence in this world.
‘I have heard truly lovely stories and memories from people near and far, and honour in each of you where those feelings and memories come from.
‘Nothing will replace the icon we lost, yet her legacy is alive and well in our hearts and memories, as well as her contributions to our global culture, her beloved daughter Chloe Lattanzi, and her cancer research and wellness centre in Melbourne.
‘Please honour your sadness, and then celebrate the joy that Olivia’s heart and lifetime achievements endowed in our world. Sending all kinds of love.’
Following the post, Chloe broke her silence with a heartbreaking tribute to her late mother.
Alongside the music video for Chloe and Olivia’s duet Window in the Wall, Chloe, 36, wrote: ‘You are my lighthouse mama. My safe place. My heart space.’
She continued: ‘It has been my honor and continues to be my honor to be your baby and best friend.
‘You are an angel on earth and everyone touched by you has been blessed. I love you forever my life giver, my teacher, my mama.’
A number of celebrities, including many of Olivia’s famous pals, commented on the post.
‘You know how proud of you she was Chloe,’ wrote entertainment reporter Richard Wilkins. ‘The love between you was evident to the world.’
https://youtube.com/watch?v=VmW-wumdBV4%3Frel%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26hl%3Den-US
‘This is so beautiful such love I know your mother is looking down on you with endless love and pride,’ Jane Seymour commented.
Window in the Wall is a duet that Chloe and Olivia recorded together in 2021.
It was their second collaboration together, following a dance remix of Olivia’s 1980 hit Magic, which topped the Billboard dance charts in 2015.
Just months before Olivia’s death, Chloe vowed to stand by her mother ‘always and forever’ while sharing a gallery of pictures of the pair together on Facebook.
Chloe made a heartbreaking final promise to her cancer-stricken mum just months before the Grease star’s tragic death aged 73 this week. Pictured together
‘Always and forever mama. I got you. I see you. I will walk with you to the ends of the earth no questions asked. #rideordielove,’ Chloe captioned her post at the time.
Olivia revealed on the A Life of Greatness podcast a year ago that she’d made a pact with God while pregnant with daughter Chloe.
‘I remember when I was pregnant with Chloe, and I was close to losing her,’ Olivia explained on the podcast.
‘I went to bed and asked God to save her and if he did, I would say the Lord’s Prayer every night for the rest of my life and so I have. I think prayer is very powerful.’
Just months before Olivia’s death, Chloe vowed to stand by her mother ‘always and forever’ while sharing a gallery of pictures of the pair together on Facebook
‘Always and forever mama. I got you. I see you. I will walk with you to the ends of the earth no questions asked. rideordielove,’ Chloe captioned her post
Chloe, who is Olivia’s only child, shared a gallery of photos on Monday following the Grease icon’s death
Olivia also shared her thoughts on death and faith, saying she believed there was something out there after you die.
‘Have you contemplated your death?’ the podcast host asked.
‘I have quite a few times that it was a possibility sooner than I wanted it,’ Olivia said.
What a natural! Previously unseen photos of Newton-John singing at a Florida hotel in 1975
Aw: The photos of the Grease star were shot by an onlooker. They said: ‘At that time Newton-John was doing a hotel tour. She sang Have You Never Been Mellow, and I Honestly Love You (pictured 1975)
‘We all know we are going to die… I think we spend our lives denying it. It’s extremely personal. I find it hard to put into words, I feel we are all part of one thing, I have had experiences with spirits or spirit life and felt the spirit world and have heard things, that I believe there is something that happens.’
Chloe temporarily moved in with her mother during the pandemic just last year – something for which Olivia said she is forever grateful.
‘This has been a dream time, to be able to spend a long time with Chloe. It’s a special time,’ the Xanadu actress told Studio 10 during a recent interview.
Olivia was sitting in the front row as Chloe competed in Dancing With The Stars Australia two years ago
It was reported at the time that Olivia had stumped up a ‘loan’ for Chloe and fiancé James Driskill to ‘have a fresh start’ by opening a marijuana farm.
Olivia welcomed Chloe with her former husband Matt Lattanzi in 1986.
Just days before Olivia’s death, Chloe, 36, uploaded a photo of herself and her mother posing in matching white outfits alongside the heartfelt caption: ‘I worship this woman. My mother. My best friend. @therealonj.’
Olivia is pictured holding baby Chloe shortly after her birth in 1986
The first was a black-and-white photo of a young Chloe kissing her mother on the face during a glamorous photo shoot.
She also included a photo of Olivia cuddling her as a baby, and another one of the mother-daughter duo attending a charity event while Chloe was a pre-teen.
Olivia’s death was announced by her husband John Easterling on Monday morning on her social media pages.
‘Dame Olivia Newton-John (73) passed away peacefully at her Ranch in Southern California this morning, surrounded by family and friends,’ Easterling wrote.
‘We ask that everyone please respect the family’s privacy during this very difficult time.
‘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,’ he added.
Olivia’s death was announced by her husband John Easterling on Monday on her social media pages. ‘Dame Olivia Newton-John (73) passed away peacefully at her Ranch in Southern California this morning, surrounded by family and friends,’ he wrote
The family asked for donations to be made to her cancer organization, the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund, instead of flowers.
The actress famously beat breast cancer twice but was diagnosed again in 2017.
Olivia shared one final heartbreaking post on Instagram on Friday just three days before she passed away.
She had shared a happy throwback photo with her beloved husband John Easterling, 70, simply writing: ‘Flashback Friday’ but made no reference to her health struggles.
Olivia was last pictured on April 18 when she stood in front of a backdrop of sunflowers in her garden, while smiling from ear-to-ear.
Farewell: Olivia shared one final heartbreaking post on Instagram on Friday just three days before she passed away.
Hollywood has mourned one of its brightest stars with tributes pouring in from all across the globe. One of the star’s first high-profile friends to pay tribute was her Grease co-star John Travolta.
‘My dearest Olivia, you made all of our lives so much better. Your impact was incredible. I love you so much. We will see you down the road and we will all be together again,’ he captioned an Instagram post alongside a photo of Newton-John.
‘Yours from the first moment I saw you and forever! Your Danny, your John!’
Iconic role: Olivia is most known for her famous role as Sandy in the 1978 movie Grease (pictured, Newton-John with Grease co-star John Travolta)
Poignant: John wrote this touching caption alongside the beautiful throwback image of his co-star
Her husband revealed the actress’ final request was for donations to be made to the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund, ‘in lieu of flowers’.
The foundation funds research into plant-based medicine and holistic treatments for cancer.
In a final video posted just before Christmas, Olivia thanked her fans for their support over the years.
‘I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish all a primarily healthy, happy, peaceful Christmas,’ she said.
‘I know it’s been a very, very, very difficult time for everybody in the whole planet – so this is a time we can get together, celebrate each other and our families and whatever faith that you believe in we can express it with each other which is very important.
‘I want to thank you all for all of your support over the years and I wish you all the best and send you love and light.
Newton-John’s battle with breast cancer first began in 1992 when she was just 44 years old. She was very open about her diagnosis and treatment, which famously included the use of medical marijuana.
Her cancer returned in 2013 and again in 2017.
Newton-John and Easterling met while on a ayahuasca retreat in Peru.
WHAT HAPPENED TO OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN’S LOST LOVER?
Theories have raged for almost two decades about the fate of Olivia Newton-John’s on-off lover, movie cameraman Patrick McDermott, 48.
He vanished on an overnight 22-hour fishing trip on the boat ‘Freedom’ out of San Pedro marina in Los Angeles on June 30, 2005.
The boat’s crew found his car keys, wallet and passport on board after all the other passengers disembarked the following day, and his car was found parked nearby.
The crew hadn’t done a headcount so no-one noticed he was missing for another week when he failed to turn up for a family event, with police alerted almost a week later..
Since then speculation has raged about what happened to him, with investigators unable to find any evidence of a crime, suicide, hoax or an accident on the fishing trip.
Officials believe he simply fell overboard and drowned, but conspiracy theorists insist he may have had another boat lined up to meet him offshore.
Others believe he may have planted his belongings on the boat before slipping off, possibly before it even left port, without any noticing.
Private detectives set up a website FindPatrickMcDermott.com to try to trap the missing American into giving himself away, identifying the location of everyone who accessed the site.
Olivia Newton-John kept in touch with McDermott’s ex-wife Yvette Nipar (pictured) on the fate of the missing American movie cameraman
A flurry of web traffic from the Sayulita area of Mexico’s West Coast sparked a hunt for him there without any success.
Others say they spotted him living on a yacht off the coast of Acapulco, 1000km further south.
One investigator claimed to have found him and spoken with him in 2009, claiming he just wanted be left alone but the claim was unsubstantiated.
Another claimed to have categoric proof he was alive and was on the verge of revealing it – but never did.
Over the years there has been at least 20 sightings of him in Mexico and Central America, but many have proved false.
One set of pictures of a couple alleged to be the distinctive looking McDermott – who was half-Korean and adopted at the age of two – turned out to be a Canadian couple.
His ex-wife Yvette Nipar, the mother of their son Chance, begged for the speculation to end for the sake of their child.
She pleaded with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to block the publication of a book by private eye Philip Klein about her ex’s disappearance.
‘My son has been through enough emotional torment over this,’ Nipar wrote, branding Klein a ‘serial liar’.
‘He has yet to be able to move on.due to Mr Klein’s continual effort to keep him in the public eye.
‘Let him rest in peace.’
In one of her last red carpet appearances. Olivia confessed that she had been in ‘denial’ about her cancer battle in recent years – and refused to label her struggle to live as a ‘fight.’
Just two years before her passing, she spoke candidly about her outlook on life at the G’Day USA benefit in Beverly Hills alongside former co-star Travolta.
How ‘Grease’ became a victim of cancel culture during Olivia Newton-John’s tragic battle with cancer – but the star had an incredible comeback for the film’s haters
Grease had become a victim of ‘cancel culture’ as it’s star Olivia Newton-John battled cancer – but she was always had the best comeback to the haters who said it was ‘sexist’ and even ‘offensive’ to women.
Newtown-John said people needed to ‘relax a little bit and just enjoy things for what they are’.
‘It’s a fun movie that entertains people,’ she said.
However, students at Presbyterian Ladies’ College and Scotch College in Perth in November didn’t see it that way when they decided not to perform the musical because the girls deemed it to be anti-feminist.
The show was made famous by the movie version starring Newton-John and John Travolta in 1978
PLC principal Cate Begbie and Scotch College acting headmaster Peter Burt released a joint statement about their decision to cancel the musical.
‘A number of PLC students raised concerns whether the musical was appropriate in modern times,’ it read.
‘Scotch College listened respectfully to the girls’ concerns, and both schools agreed a different musical would be better suited for their joint production in 2022.’
Sunrise reported the girls at PLC told teachers they felt Grease was ‘offensive, sexist and anti-feminist’ and refused to take part.
‘They can’t put on Mary Poppins because she disciplines the children. Sound of Music, you know, does it does it portray a blended family accurately?’ co-host Edwina Bartholomew asked on the program last year.
‘What are they deciding on?’ David Koch replied.
‘I don’t know, The Book of Mormon?’ Bartholomew joked.
Newton-John repeatedly defended the film in her recent interviews, saying people shouldn’t be taking it ‘too seriously’.
‘I think it’s kind of silly. I mean, this movie was made in the 1970s about the 1950s,’ she said.
‘It was a stage play, it’s a musical, it’s fun. It’s a fun movie musical, not to be taken so seriously.
‘We need to relax a little bit and just enjoy things for what they are. I didn’t see it like that at all, I think it’s a fun movie that entertains people.’
Grease was also aired on free-to-air TV in the UK earlier this year, with the showing attracting similarly angry responses from viewers.
Many viewers accused the film of being ‘misogynistic’, ‘rapey’ – and even encouraged ‘slut-shaming’.
Newton-John said during a 2020 interview she believed it actually conveyed a strong female character that was relevant in today’s society.
‘It’s a movie. It’s a story from the ’50s where things were different,’ she said of its criticism.
‘Everyone forgets that, at the end, he changes for her too. There’s nothing deep in there about the #MeToo movement.’
‘Gosh, life is a gift and I’ve had an amazing life and I intend to keep going with it and I want to help other people with cancer of course,’ she told DailyMail.com in the January 2020 interview.
‘I have my wellness center in Melbourne and I want to see an end to cancer in my lifetime so other people don’t have to suffer.’
Reflecting on her fight to beat the condition, she admitted: ‘I don’t see it as a battle. I don’t think about it a lot, to be honest. Denial is a really good thing and I’m getting stronger and better all the time! I am doing well!…I am feeling wonderful.’
She also admitted that she had hope for her future.
‘I’m winning over and living with it well and that’s how I see it,’ she added.
The actress famously beat breast cancer twice but was diagnosed again in 2017. She spent the last few years at home, campaigning for animal rights and raising money for her charity.
In a haunting interview with The Guardian in 2020, she said of the disease: ‘It’s been a part of my life for so long.
‘I felt something was wrong. It’s concerning when it comes back, but I thought “I’ll get through it again”.
In other interviews, when asked how she battled the disease so bravely, she said: ‘I’ve had and am having an amazing life so I have no complaints. I really don’t.
‘Everyone goes through something. We all have something we need to go through in life. This has been my challenge.’
Olivia committed a large portion of her personal fortune to support her charity three years before her death.
The Grease star used money raised from a massive sell-off of her real estate and invested it in The Olivia Newton-John Foundation for cancer research, reports the New York Post.
After she learned she had stage 4 cancer in 2019, Olivia selflessly threw herself into raising money for the foundation which was established in 2012 by selling off most of her massive real estate portfolio.
After failing to sell her California ranch in 2019, Olivia transferred ownership to the Santa Barbara property to her husband John Easterling.
In 2019, Olivia also sold off her 189-acre farm located in Dalwood, New South for $6.6million.
The beloved star initially purchased the land in the 1980s and rebuilt the home in the early 2000s.
‘Olivia loved helping people. She spent the last two decades of her life giving back,’ a source close to the star told the publication.
‘She wanted to leave behind something that would last, and something that her daughter, too, could benefit from.’
Over the years, Olivia invested in her Olivia Newton-John Cancer & Wellness Centre at Melbourne’s Austin Hospital.
Olivia did not let her grave illness stop what would be her final performance in Australia.
The international superstar appeared before thousands of fans at Sydney’s Accor Stadium for the Fire Fight Australia concert in February in 2020, two years before her death.
Olivia bravely took to the stage to sing a duet with John Farham as she fought cancer which had spread to the base of her spine.
She belted out Two Strong Hearts with John during the 10-hour charity event which raised $9.5million in the wake of the deadly Black Summer Bushfires of 2019-2020.
Olivia looked radiant as she emerged on-stage in a kimono by Aussie designer Camilla Franks. Later, the Xanadu star was joined by Queen’s Adam Lambert to sing John Farham’s 1986 megahit, You’re the Voice.
Wow! Olivia performed at the Fire Fight Australia charity event amid her breast cancer battle two years before her death. Pictured: John Farham (L) and Olivia (R) at the event
Powerful: She belted out Two Strong Hearts with John during the 10-hour charity event that raised $9.5million in the wake of the deadly Black Summer Bushfires of 2019-2020
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