Easterling said he still speaks to the Grease star out loud six months after her death.
“I’ll just be walking around the house, or throwing the ball for the dogs and just speak to her out loud,” he said.
“A guy I was flying with said, ‘You know, John, when you’re lucky enough to have found your true soul mate, 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.”
Newton-John was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992. It went into remission but reappeared in 2013 and then again in 2017.
At one point she said she was partly in “denial” about the disease, because if she dwelled upon it too much it would mean she wouldn’t “enjoy life”.
Newton-John was born in Cambridge, in England’s east, in 1948.
She began performing at just 14.
During her career, the singer, songwriter and actor won four Grammys and had five number-one hits and 10 top-10 hits throughout her long career.
She was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen’s 2020 New Year’s honours, which meant she could officially used the term Dame Olivia Newton-John.
Her first solo album was released in 1971 with a title track by Bob Dylan.
In 1974 she represented Britain at the Eurovision Song Contest finishing fourth in Brighton, in southern England, where Abba won with Waterloo.
John Easterling and Olivia Newton-John in 2012. Photo / Getty Images
She also found success in the US where she won the 1974 Country Music Association female vocalist of the year gong despite not being American, ruffling feathers.
With high school musical Grease, released in 1978, her fame headed to even more lofty heights as the movie became the highest-grossing in the US that year.
When Newton-John came on board, the role of Sandy was rewritten to be that of an Australian student to take account of her accent.
The soundtrack gave Newton-John three top-five singles including You’re the One That I Want, Summer Nights and Hopelessly Devoted to You with John Travolta.
The film Xanadu followed in 1980; the title track was another massive hit for Newton-John. It was there she met Matt Lattanzi who she would wed in 1984. The pair shared Newton-John’s only child, Chloe Lattanzi, and divorced in 1995. - news.com.au
