Explaining that she knew her mother didn't want her to stress about the disease when she was so young, Lattanzi added that when Newton-John had cancer for a third time, she didn't like strangers knowing about the illness and constantly reminding her mother that she was sick. When she was a child, she learned of her mother's initial cancer diagnosis from a classmate because Newton-John hadn't told her about it. That was the story of our friendship: pure heart, pure love.Meanwhile, Lattanzi said that she never broaches the topic unless Newton-John wants to do so. In Grease, Frenchy wants Sandy to be a Pink Lady, and Rizzo says: “She looks too pure to be pink.” And that purity, that sweetness, that beauty, I saw that the very first moment I met her. Then sure enough I got the call that she had gone. Well, the day before she died, one of those orchid buds fell down, and I just had a feeling that that meant something. Why didn’t you tell me?” The next day, I got beautiful orchids from her. When I got home I called her and she said: “I heard from so-and-so you were sick. This year I got very sick and was in the hospital for two months. She would always send me beautiful orchids on my birthday. Of course, I would never remember the lyrics, but it didn’t matter. I’d come on stage and say to the audience: “Isn’t she the most beautiful person you’ve ever seen in your life?” And we would do Summer Nights together. Didi, are you there?” I’d be sitting in the middle and I’d say: “Yeah I am!” And the people would go berserko. During her Grease segment, she would say: “Some of us have made friends that have lasted 40 years, and I have a friend like that. It was great because I got to be a rock star for five minutes. In later years, I went to see her perform all over. And the guys, their tongues were hanging out, they were drooling. Everybody went crazy and said they just couldn’t believe it. We were doing the scene at the drive-in and, at one point, this very gorgeous, sexy woman with big hair and high red shoes comes walking between the cars. Well, there was a hot momma smouldering underneath that beautiful exterior. Her character in Grease starts off as this goody-goody-two-shoes, and that was Olivia’s reputation too. Olivia Newton-John and Didi Conn in Grease. She had a terrible cold, but she wasn’t thinking of herself, she was always thinking of what she could do for others. It was so small and she kept it right next to her chest, in her sports bra, the whole time. I went for eight days and I remember Olivia found a little lost kitten, which she called Magic. Each walker was sponsored and I don’t know how many millions that brought in. One of the things she did was a 21-day hike on the Great Wall of China. She raised millions for the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre in Melbourne. She became a good friend, she really was there for Chloe and it was so important for her to share with the world what she went through and how she beat it – not only surviving cancer, but thriving. In that moment, she made a decision that she was going to get better, which she did. But when she first got diagnosed with cancer, she had Chloe, and Chloe was very young. When we first met, she was a rock star with No 1s and TV specials. That purity, that sweetness, that beauty, I saw that the very first moment I met her From then on, I’d always get those Leibniz biscuits with milk chocolate on top. Travolta came up there and we talked about acting teachers – he didn’t believe in acting teachers. We went horseback riding up at her place. I happened to live just down the road from her in Malibu, so we spent a lot of time together. That was the beginning of a deeper friendship. She hugged and kissed me afterwards and said “thank you, thank you!” for helping to break the ice. I had to wear gloves, and the boys went in one place and girls went in another.” And before we knew it, Randal, our director, was saying “Action”. I said: “What was it like going to school in Australia?” She said: “Oh my God. I’m so happy you’re my neighbour and we can come to school together!”, and she’s looking at me like, is this in the script? But then she caught on and we had so much fun. When we did our first day of shooting together, she was very nervous, so being the veteran film actress I was (I only did two movies before that one) I began to improvise with her as Frenchy. With stars, you tend to keep a distance until you feel that the time is right, so we didn’t talk too much at first, except that she told me how cute she thought John Travolta was. She arrived in this white T-Bird convertible with the top down. The first time I met Olivia Newton-John was on the set of Grease in 1977.
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