“I worship this woman. My mother. My best friend,” Chloe Lattanzi wrote on Instagram three days before her mother Olivia Newton-John died at age 73 of breast cancer on Monday
With the death of Olivia Newton-John, the world has lost a talented performer, a fierce activist and a devoted mother.
The four-time Grammy Award winner, who died at age 73 on Monday after her third struggle with breast cancer, is survived by daughter Chloe Rose Lattanzi, with whom she shared a special bond that touched on the star’s career, as well as her health journey.
Lattanzi, 36, an actress and singer like her mother, paid tribute to Newton-John shortly after her death was announced, sharing a series of sweet throwback moments from throughout her life with the Grease star.
The No Pain artist previously posted a beautiful moment with her mom on Instagram just three days before her death. “I worship this woman. My mother. My best friend,” Lattanzi wrote in the caption.
Take a look back at Olivia Newton-John’s bond with her only child, daughter Chloe Rose Lattanzi.
View this post on Instagram
Becoming a Mother
Newton-John put her career on hold for a few years to be with her daughter, whom she welcomed on Jan. 17, 1986 with ex-husband Matt Lattanzi, an actor and dancer she met on the set of her 1980 movie Xanadu. They were married from 1984 to 1995.
“As a kid, I wasn’t paying attention to her as a celebrity. She’s my mom, you know? Like, she takes me to school. I think as I’ve gotten older, that’s when I got to listening to her music,” Chloe told PEOPLE last year.
Newton-John previously opened up to PEOPLE in 2000 about teaching her then-teenage daughter self-respect.
“It’s the same for all mothers, to try and give your daughters good self-esteem. You just do your best and cross your fingers,” Newton-John said, adding: “Chloe notices people and their feelings. She’s a very good girl.”
Her longtime friend and fellow Australian singer Pat Farrar added at the time: “She’s a wonderful mother, totally devoted. Chloe comes first, no matter what.”
Her Favorite Costar
Chloe played the daughter of her mom’s characters in the 1994 CBS made-for-TV movie A Christmas Romance and again in the 2001 Showtime film The Wilde Girls.
“It was tough because she was learning this is not a game; it’s hard work and the hours are long,” Newton-John told PEOPLE of the experience working together.
She reminisced about recognizing her daughter’s star quality last year, telling PEOPLE: “She would sing and perform and knew the words to everything on the radio and every record.
“And then she went through a shy period and didn’t want to do it as much. When she was about 13, we made a TV movie together and she sang ‘At Last,’ which is a classic Etta James song. It was so moving, and I went, ‘Oh boy, she has it,'” Newton-John added.
View this post on Instagram
Music Collaborators
For Chloe’s 2016 album No Pain, she worked with her mom and DJ Dave Audé on the electronic dance single “You Have to Believe,” which became the first Billboard No. 1 single for both on the Dance Club Songs chart. It was also the first mother-daughter song to reach No. 1 on the chart.
Co-written by Chloe, the track was a reimagining of Newton-John’s 1980 single “Magic” from Xanadu, recorded for the cult classic’s 35th anniversary as a tribute to their relationship.
“I met Chloe’s dad on the set of Xanadu, so, without that film, Chloe wouldn’t be here,” Newton-John told Billboard. “She was the real ‘magic’ that came out of that film!”
Newton-John most recently collaborated with her daughter on “The Window in the Wall,” which dropped in January 2021. The song debuted at the top of the Billboard Pop Music Video chart.
“There is always something special about singing with my daughter,” Newton-John said in a press release at the time. “She not only has a gorgeous voice, she’s an amazing musician with tremendous instincts as a singer.”
Chloe later told PEOPLE of the collab: “I was flattered and honored. She could have asked anyone, and she asked me. That meant the world to me. It’s my dream job — I get to spend time with my favorite person.”
Through Sickness and Health
Chloe supported her mom after her breast cancer returned at stage IV and metastasized to her lower back in 2017, following two other private struggles with the disease in 1992 and 2013. “My mom and best friend is going to be fine! She will be using medicine that I often talk about,” she wrote, referencing the power of CBD oil.
“We both love you all, and anyone fighting this disease you can beat it. Look for natural remedies as well as what modern medicine can offer,” Chloe added. “My mom is so powerful she will beat this in no time. All my love to you. And I wish you health, wealth and happiness.”
Newton-John has also been open about how her husband John Easterling’s home-grown marijuana helped her with “pain maintenance and sleep,” noting to PEOPLE that Chloe also runs a cannabis farm in Oregon.
“It’s an amazing plant, a maligned plant, but it’s helping so many people,” Newton-John said in 2019.
Reconnecting
Newton-John raved to PEOPLE last year about spending time at home with her grown daughter during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I worked my whole life, and the longest period I can remember being home was my pregnancy with Chloe and the first year or two of her life,” she said. “So it’s been wonderful reconnecting with my baby. She is my reason to be.”
Ahead of her upcoming nuptials with longtime partner James Driskill, Chloe told PEOPLE the best advice her mother has given her: “Don’t change for anybody because that’s not love.”
“She picked a good one. So I haven’t had to say much!” Newton-John said, adding that she was looking forward to watching her daughter walk down the aisle.
[via]
