Icon reveals biopic fear
OLIVIA Newton- John has slammed the miniseries about her life starring Delta Goodrem, saying she was “horrified” when she found out Channel 7 were producing the two- part biopic.
The 69- year- old Aussie icon revealed she has no plans to watch the network’s upcoming show Olivia Newton- John Hopelessly Devoted to You and has not even read the script.
“I probably won’t watch it,” she told Australian Women’s Weekly.
“When they told me they were doing it, I was horrified, because despite the fact that I’m well known I’m kind of private and my private life, even though it gets into the papers, is not something I want to talk about.”
Newton- John told the current edition of the publication she didn’t want the much- hyped biopic to go ahead, particularly out of concern for her family and friends, but decided to make sure “some good has come out of it”.
“I worry about the people in my life,” she told the magazine.
“It’s not their fault they were married to me or were my boyfriend, so I didn’t want it to happen.
“But then I realised it was going to happen whether I wanted it to or not. So I decided to make something positive out of the negative and I asked that any money that would come to me would go to my hospital ( the Olivia Newton- John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre in Melbourne) so that I can do it and feel I care about it.”
She said she didn’t know how accurate the show would be “because it’s a movie”.
“People weren’t there at every moment of my life,” she said.
While the star considers Goodrem a friend and a “really good actress and a great singer”, she admitted she hesitated when she got the call from her asking if she should take the role.
“In the beginning she called me and asked, ‘ Shall I do it or not?’,” she told Australian Women’s Weekly.
“First I said, ‘ I’m not sure,’ and then I said, ‘ Oh you do it’.”
Goodrem, 33, has previously described her excitement about playing Newton- John and described her as “my mentor and my idol”. “I feel really proud of it,” she said. “It’s a celebration of an incredible woman who has inspired generations, including me.”
Newton- John’s comments come as Goodrem features as the current cover story of InStyle magazine talking about the biopic as “one of the best things I’ve experienced”.