Aurora Starchild
Singer and actress Chloe Lattanzi had an incredibly special relationship with her mother, the late Olivia Newton-John. Since news of Newton-John’s passing shocked the world last August, Lattanzi has struggled with the loss of not just her mother, but her friend. In a recent touching tribute, the younger singer shared some precious memories of her beloved and iconic parent. “I can’t explain the waves. I don’t know how to swim in this ocean without you,” she wrote.
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Chloe Lattanzi Shared a Collection of Keepsakes Memorializing Her Mom Olivia Newton-John
Chloe Lattanzi’s photo featured several keepsakes of her mother’s, placed together on a shelf. A portrait of Olivia Newton-John smiling and tipping a hat sat in the background. Another framed photo of Newton-John holding Lattanzi as a baby, a gold ring with a green gemstone, and a pink urn embellished with a flower created the feeling of a memorial or shrine.
Lattanzi has been present and vocal about her mother, and her legacy, since her death on August 8, 2022. Olivia Newton-John passed away of breast cancer after a years-long struggle with the disease. She had initially beaten the cancer 25 years ago but learned in 2017 that it had metastasized spread to her back. The Grease star was 73 years old at the time of her death.
Olivia Newton-John Was Very Close with Her Daughter and Husband
Lattanzi told Today’s Hoda Kotb last February that her mother stayed positive and was even joking up until she could no longer speak.
“The last words she could say to me was ‘my sunshine,’” she said.
Lattanzi was sitting with John Easterling, Olivia Newton-John’s husband since 2008 and up until her death. While he is not her biological father (that is former actor and dancer Matt Lattanzi), it was clear that they were leaning on each other for emotional support. They held hands as Kotb asked when Easterling felt the most.
“Late at night. Early in the morning. And then, you know I’ll just be walking around the house, or throwing the ball for the dogs, and just speak to her out loud,” he said tearfully. “A guy I was flying with said, ‘You know John, when you’re lucky enough to have found your true soulmate, and you share a heart, when one passes, the other has the obligation to live life for both.’”
“I love my mom more than anything,” Chloe Lattanzi added. “She’s my mama, you know? She’s not Olivia Newton-John to me, but I’m so glad that she was Olivia Newton-John for so many people.”
Chloe Lattanzi Has Called the Public’s Support a “Life Raft”
She said that the public’s outpouring of sympathy and support had helped her get through the loss.
“It actually has been a life raft,’ Lattanzi said. “It has felt like a big hug from the universe. And I’m very grateful for all of the people who reached out to us and extended their heart and their connection.”
After Olivia Newton-John’s passing, Chloe Lattanzi delivered a deeply emotional eulogy at her service in Melbourne, Australia.
“My heart is broken in two,” said, as her husband James Driskill stood by her side. “The other half is with my mama. I know she’s holding it for me until we meet again. I stand here before you so desperately wanting to feel strong and confident and speak eloquently, but the truth is I feel like a little girl lost without her mother. She was my safe space, my guide, my biggest fan and the earth beneath my feet.
“I know she’s here, standing beside me and within me. I can hear her voice, [saying], ‘You’re safe, my darling. Don’t be afraid. You’re so much stronger than you think. Speak from your heart. That’s all you have to do.'”
Lattanzi and Newton-John Were the Best of Friends
Lattanzi then recalled how she and her mother shared a sense of humor and had “the same cackle.”
“She didn’t tell dirty jokes, but she laughed the hardest at them,” she shared. “… We loved watching our trashy TV shows together and immediately changed the channel when John [Easterling] walked in the room. We pretended we were watching educational shows about plant medicine.”
Lattanzi told the crowd that Newton-John “could find the beauty in everything.”
“My favorite thing to do was watch her watching the birds and the flowers, smelling her roses and the joy it brought to her face was a thing of beauty,” she continued. “I loved making her tea and then making it five times again until I got it right… I loved our snuggles. I would crawl into bed with her late at night, even until I was 20 years old. I loved the way she smelled, nothing felt safer to me.”
“I loved writing music and singing with her and how she would always notice if I was slightly off-key,” she said, laughing. “I love how she loved fully and completely.”
Lattanzi Wants the World to Remember One of Newton-John’s Final Messages
Last month, Lattanzi shared a 2020 interview of her mother and her from the Tamron Hall Show.
“Sometimes it takes death to understand how alike you are. I am proudly my mother’s daughter,” she wrote. “Not only in blood, but in spirit and action. I love you my wise sensitive complicated life giver. We were 2 peas in a pod caught in a complicated web of an unimaginable life experience. In spirit you guide me every day. More powerful than ever. I honor you forever.”
The mother-daughter duo were promoting their new single, “Window in the Wall.” They told Tamron Hall that the main message of their song was to remind everyone that it’s okay to have different opinions and that society should strive to come together instead of becoming increasingly polarized.
