The grieving husband of Dame Olivia Newton-John has told how every day with her was a “bit of magic”.
John Easterling said the Grease star was “the most courageous and compassionate woman” he had ever met.
The businessman, who was with the Grammy winner when she died of cancer aged 73 last August, reflected on her loss at an event on Saturday.
He told an audience in Los Angeles, which included singer Katy Perry and model Miranda Kerr: “We shared a love and a happiness on an order of magnitude that I didn’t even think was possible.
“Olivia and I unexpectedly, madly, deeply, forever fell in love in the Amazon rainforest.
“For the past 15 years, I’ve been blessed to share the depth and the passion of her being.” He added: “Every day with Olivia was a bit of magic. Every day with Olivia was supernatural.
“She was the most courageous and compassionate woman that I’ve ever known, with a calming capacity to genuinely care about other people.”
As Olivia was honoured at the G’Day USA Gala, Easterling told how his wife gave her name to cancer research centres in Australia and the US.
He said: “There’s an old adage that like attracts like, and Olivia knew that her voice and her huge profile of talents were a gift. Her legacy continues as a joyful, healing spirit who is continuously focused on moving things, in her words, ‘into the love and the light.’”
Olivia and Easterling married in June 2008.
She was previously married to Matt Lattanzi, with whom she had her only child, Chloe, who told the event she planned to “honour my mum’s mission and keep her dream alive”.
Olivia was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, and worked to increase awareness and education of the disease, as well as promote natural medicines.
Chloe, 37, added: “She was curious and intuitive, and knew the power of plant medicine and ancient wisdom that we have within us all. She was a powerful being.”
Crocodile Dundee star Paul Hogan, 83, told how he met Olivia, who went on to become a “great friend”.
He said: “We were doing a command performance at the Sydney Opera House for the Queen.
“We were backstage and Livvy came over to me and said ‘have you had make-up yet?’ And I said, ‘oh, no. I don’t need it’. I was just doing a funny bit.
“She said, ‘sit down’ and took out an eyebrow pencil and gave me eyebrows because mine were all bleached out from the sun. She tried to do a few other pretty things too, but I didn’t let her.”
Olivia found fame in the 1970s as Sandy in the hit movie Grease and had top 10 hits including Physical.
