celebrity

For 30 years Olivia Newton-John shared her breast cancer battle with the world. At 73, she peacefully died.

Dame Olivia Newton-John has died at the age of 73, her husband has confirmed.

The British-born singer died "peacefully" at her ranch in Southern California on Monday morning, surrounded by family and friends.

Her husband John Easterling confirmed the news in a statement on Newton-John's official social media pages.

"We ask that everyone please respect the family's privacy during this very difficult time," he wrote.

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"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."

Easterling added that in lieu of flowers, donations should be made to Dame Olivia's foundation.

She is survived by her husband and her daughter Chloe Lattanzi, who shared a collection of photos with her mother on Instagram.

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Newton-John is best known for her starring role in the 1978 film Grease, in which she starred opposite John Travolta as Sandy. Her performance saw her nominated for multiple awards including two Golden Globes, and various other film accolades.

On Instagram, Travolta shared a touching tribute to his co-star, signing off "your Danny, your John".

"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 wrote.

"Yours from the first moment I saw you and forever!"

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Further tributes to the Australian icon have been flowing in, from Barbra Streisand to Hugh Jackman. 

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Olivia Newton-John's life.

Newton-John was born in Cambridge, UK in 1948, to a Welsh father, Brinley "Bryn" Newton-John and mother, Irene Helene. 

Her Jewish maternal grandfather was Nobel Prize–winning physicist Max Born, who fled with his wife and children to Britain from Germany before World War II to escape the Nazi regime. 

In 1954, when she was six, Newton-John's family emigrated to Melbourne, Australia, where her father worked as a professor of German and as the master of Ormond College at the University of Melbourne.

She attended schooling in Melbourne, and showed an interest in performing from a young age. She starred in a number of Australian TV shows before winning a talent contest on the 1960s show Sing, Sing, Sing, where she won a trip to the UK.

It was here that her career really began taking off, first as a duo with friend Pat Carroll, and later as a solo artist.

Her career.

Newton-John forged a successful music career in both the UK, Australia and the US throughout the early-mid 70s, with singles like 'If Not For You', 'Banks of the Ohio' and 'Let Me Be There'.

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But everything changed in 1978, when she met producer Allan Carr at a dinner party at Helen Reddy's house. Here, Carr offered her the role of Sandy in the film adaptation of Broadway music Grease.

The role was actually changed for her. Rather than the play's original American Sandy Dumbrowski, the film changed the role to Sandy Olsson, an Australian who holidayed and then moved to the US, to accommodate Newton-John's accent.

Listen: Mia Freedman's No Filter with Olivia Newton-John. Post continues below audio.

Grease became the biggest movie of the year, and its album - which included singles 'You're the One That I Want', 'Hopelessly Devoted to You', and 'Summer Nights' - catapulted Newton-John and Travolta to a whole new level of superstardom.

It is still one of the bestselling soundtracks of all time.

After Grease, Newton-John stars in Xanadu and used Sandy's transformation in the film as inspired for her own career, establishing more of an edgy image.

In 1983, she released her most successful album, Physical, which showcased more risque material, especially the title track.

Becoming a mother.

The following year, Newton-John wed her longtime boyfriend Matt Lattanzi and went on to welcome her daughter, Chloe, in 1986. 

In a piece for Now To Love in 2018, Chloe wrote her mum has always been her "hero".

"When I think back to my childhood, it's full of magical memories she helped create," she wrote. 

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"Mum didn't work regular hours and was always travelling, but when she could, she would always make time to read to me at bedtime. Our favourite books to read together were Hello, Moon! and The Giving Tree."

Her breast cancer diagnosis.

Chloe was just six years old when her mum was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992. 

"I just remember I found a lump, it was a little tender. It was a little bigger than a pea," Newton-John told Mamamia's No Filter podcast.

"So I found it, went to the doctor. He sat me down for a mammogram which didn’t show anything, and a needle biopsy - and it didn’t show anything. But I didn’t feel right. But I just knew."

She underwent a mastectomy and nine months of chemotherapy before doctors told her she was cancer-free.

That same year, Newton-John was met with more sad news when her father passed. 

Speaking to No Filter about that time in her life, the singer said, "Nobody escapes without something in their life...you just plod on."

"I’ve always been a pretty positive person - and I have to believe it’s for a reason."

Three years after her diagnosis, the actress amicably divorced from Lattanzi in 1995, before going on to date Hollywood cameraman Patrick McDermott.

However, after a nine year on-and off relationship, McDermott mysteriously vanished on an overnight fishing trip off the California coast in 2005 soon after the pair split. 

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The actress later went on to marry her now-husband, John Easterling, in 2008.

She was later diagnosed with cancer again in 2013 following a car accident. This time it was in her shoulder and she chose to keep it a secret. 

"I thought, ‘I don’t really need to share this... It’s my life," Newton-John told Seven’s Sunday Night.

Four years later, she publicly announced her breast cancer had returned a third time. This time in her spine.

After her diagnosis, Newton-John said she had undergone radiation and used "cannabis oil" as part of her ongoing treatment. 

"I have my days, I have my pains," she told the TODAY show. "But the cannabis that my husband grows for me has been such a huge part of my healing, and so I'm a really lucky person."

Newton-John and Easterling later went on to found the Newton-John Foundation, dedicated to researching plant medicine and cancer. 

Speaking to the TODAY show about her cancer journey in 2019, she said, "I think, you know, what you think creates your reality. So it's a decision. You have to make that decision."

"You can be a victim, or you can be a winner and enjoy your life."

Feature image: Getty.

- With AAP.