Olivia Newton-John, known for playing Sandy in Grease, died in August 2022. Photo / AP
Olivia Newton-John, known for playing Sandy in Grease, died in August 2022. Photo / AP
One of the stars of Grease has recalled speaking to Olivia Newton-John for the final time just weeks before she died.
Didi Conn, who played Frenchy in the hit musical, became close friends with her co-star since making the film and regularly kept in touch with her.
Conn,71, told the New York Post in an exclusive interview the pair would speak once a month or so.
John Travolta becomes emotional introducing the #Oscars In-Memoriam section, which is led by his late 'Grease' co-star Olivia Newton-John pic.twitter.com/1qtTgPKo4B
Despite battling cancer at the time, Newton-John told off her friend for not mentioning she’d also been ill, Conn recalled.
“She said, ‘What? Why didn’t you tell me?’” she said. “And the next day, I got this beautiful orchid plant. And three days before she died one of the orchid flowers fell down and my heart stopped.
She was first diagnosed in 1992 and twice more in 2013 and 2017, with the disease eventually developing into Stage 4 cancer.
Didi Conn played Frenchy, one of the Pink Ladies, in the beloved film.
During her interview, Conn recalled when her friend was first diagnosed.
“Chloe [her daughter] was very little,” she said.
“Her priorities about stardom and all of that just flipped to living, to being the best mum, being the best friend. And also being an advocate and a spokesperson for cancer and thriving, as she said, surviving but thriving. And that’s really what she dedicated her life to – besides performing.”
But Conn also shared fond memories of her friend, including times she went to see Newton-John perform live.
“Oh my God, the place would go berserk,” Conn said, adding that Newton-John always encored with I Love You, I Honestly Love You.
“And I’d be standing there in the wings near the stage, looking out, watching her having just danced her heart out.
“Towards the end she wasn’t dancing because her cancer had gone to her sacrum and back, but [she was still] giving her 110 per cent to the audience.
“And then she would say, ‘I honestly love you’ and put her hands out to the audience in such a loving, honest way. She honestly loved them and they loved her.”
Looking back at filming Grease, Conn told the outlet she never knew the musical would become so beloved.
“If I knew I would have asked for points!” she said with a laugh, adding that Paramount also didn’t realise just how successful the film would become.
It’s even sparked an upcoming prequel series titled Grease: Rise Of The Pink Ladies, set four years before the events of the original film and centring on the Pink Ladies.
