Singer Olivia Newton-john reveals cancer has returned
Grammy winner, 69, uses cannabis oil for pain and says Australia should make medical marijuana legal
OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN has revealed she has been diagnosed with cancer for the third time in three decades, saying: “I believe I will win over it.”
The Grease star revealed that she is treating the cancer with modern medicine and natural remedies, using cannabis oil to ease the pain.
The 69-year-old actress appeared on Australian TV on Sunday night where she revealed that doctors had found a tumour in her lower back in 2017.
She told news programme Sunday Night that she was “treating it naturally and doing really well”.
The four-time Grammy winner was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, undergoing a partial mastectomy and reconstruction surgery, but the cancer returned in 2013.
Newton-john said she had undergone radiation treatments since being diagnosed with the disease for the third time but was also adopting natural remedies.
The English-australian singer and actress said she was using cannabis oil from plants grown by her husband in California, where the couple live. She called on Australia to legalise medical marijuana.
“In California it’s legal to grow a certain amount of plants for your own medicinal purposes. So [my husband] makes me tinctures … they help with pain,” she told Sunday Night.
She said she was “lucky” to live in the state and hoped that Australia, where she spent most of her childhood, would change its laws.
“My dream is that, in Australia soon, it will be available to all the cancer patients and people going through cancer that causes pain,” she said. She also revealed that she was cutting sugar from her diet.
The singer said she was trying to stay positive, saying: “I live in this beautiful place. I have a wonderful husband. I have all the animals that I adore. I have an incredible career. I have nothing, really, to complain about”.
But in the emotive interview Newton-john added that she does experience moments of despair. “There are moments. I’m human. So if I allow myself to go there, I could easily create that, you know, big fear,” she said. “My husband’s … always there to support me, and I believe I will win over it and that’s my goal.”
The star has previously spoken of her shock at being diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, on the same weekend her father died from cancer.
In 2013, she discovered a new breast cancer that had spread to her shoulder after she was involved in a minor car accident. It came just months after her sister, Rona, died from brain cancer.
Newton-john shot to fame after starring in the 1978 film adaptation of the musical Grease alongside John Travolta.
Since then she has released a number of hit singles as well as touring internationally. Her most recent concert series was just last year, when she toured the US with her new concert series Liv.
Last year Newton-john, who turns 70 in a few weeks, told CNN: “I love to sing, it’s all I know how to do. That’s all I’ve ever done since I was 15, so it’s my life.”