The four-time Grammy winner and actress passed away at age 73 following a 30-year battle with breast cancer.
Olivia Newton-John's husband, John Easterling, still feels the pain of not having his beautiful wife by his side. The four-time Grammy winner and Grease actress passed away in 2022 at the age of 73 following a 30-year battle with breast cancer. Nearly six months after her death, Easterling still feels her presence, telling TODAY he feels it most “late at night, early in the morning.” He continued, “I’ll just be walking around the house, or throwing the ball for the dogs and just speak to her out loud."
As he grapples with her loss he said he was reminded of feeling grateful to have loved someone so special in his lifetime. “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.’ And that was very empowering and very powerful for me, and, you know, and gave a way forward,” he shared.
Newton-John and Easterling tied the knot in June 2008 and remained married until her death. They had known each other since the early 1990s but didn’t start dating until about 15 years after that.
On September 26, 2022, Olivia Newton-John would have turned 74, and her widower reflected on the time he spent with his late wife on one of their first holidays together, just days after friends and family celebrated her at a memorial service.
On the day of her birth anniversary, Easterling posted to her Instagram and shared a sweet story about a nearly disastrous boat trip the couple ventured on during a vacation that took place on one of the actress' birthdays early in their relationship. "I had a bearing on Elbow Cay but there was no visibility," recalled Easterling, who then began "wondering if the currents and the wind" led their boat away from the Bahamas and in the direction of Africa. "But, as quickly as the storm started, the winds died down, the rain stopped, the sun poked through and the seas turned back to that beautiful turquoise." He said they soon "could see the Hopetown Lighthouse on Elbow Cay" and realized they were "perfectly on course."
"The rainbow started on the left and crystallized all the way over — horizon to horizon — and that's when the dolphins started jumping at the bow of the boat leading us under the rainbow," wrote Easterling. "Oliva looked at me like I was a superhero and I knew it was mostly blind faith and dumb luck." The scene was picture perfect with dolphins leaping across "under the rainbow towards the lighthouse, we both recognized the fingerprints of the supernatural were all over this — and that's the way we lived our life." Easterling's post concluded, "Every day with Olivia there was a hint of magic and [an] everyday day with Olivia was a bit of the supernatural. Happy Birthday, Honey — I love you!"
References:
https://www.today.com/popculture/olivia-newton-john-husband-daughter-interview-rcna71078
https://www.instagram.com/therealonj/
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Paul Morigi
