Delta ‘I’ll get through this’
The Voice star is determined to win this battle, just like she beat cancer
Delta Goodrem is loved the nation over for her mind-blowing vocals, timeless beauty and unbreakable spirit. But she’s still haunted by the terrible disease that almost stole her life when she was just a teenager.
“I’m a survivor,” says Delta triumphantly in her recently released film clip for Dear Life.
Her words of strength, along with moving images of her time as a recovering cancer patient, is a chilling reminder of how close Australia came to losing its sweetheart, and how heavily it still weighs on her mind.
A tough 12 months
After more than a decade rarely speaking about her battle with
Hodgkin lymphoma, the brave singer appears to be drawing strength from those dark days once again, as she tackles what’s been one of the hardest years of her professional career.
Delta’s life has been far from easy – and the past 12 months have seen the 31-year-old almost crushed after a series of personal heartaches, alleged bullying from Jessie J on The Voice and savage attacks on social media.
Then she copped another blow during planning for her upcoming “Wings of the Wild” tour.
“She wanted to do an arena tour, but we had to break it to her that we didn’t think she’d sell out an arena. She looked devastated,” reveals a music industry insider.
“It would’ve been hard to hear – this is her heartland, where she built her career. But I’ve got faith in Delta. She got through cancer and has had to pick herself up time and time again, and I know s she eca can get gett throughoug t this.”s.
Nevertheless it was a crushing realisation for the songstress, who had recently returned home to Australia after struggling to make her mark in Los Angeles.
A friend who regularly hung out with Delta in Hollywood explains that, while she went to the US to chase her dreams, “it’s a harsh reality check to realise you’re a little fish in a big pond.
“She’s used to having fans, people knowing who she is, but there she’s just like every other blonde singer. LA is all about partying, hanging out with the right people, going to the bars and clubs, making connections.
“But Delta’s into hiking and green juice. She stays at home and focuses on her music. She has stuck to her guns, which is admirable, but in doing so she may have limited her success.”
After splitting her time between Syd Sydney ey anda d LA for years, in March Delta put her multimillion-dollar Hollywood Hills mansion up for sale – a sure sign her LA dreams had finally been dashed. She was cashing her chips and heading back to Australia for good.
Kicking cancer’s butt
But none of that compares to the battle she fought so hard as a teenager, and friends say it’s the strength she’s drawing from that time that is seeing her survive now.
Delta can recall all too well the day she came face to face with her own mortality in 2003, when she was told she had cancer.
“I kept thinking, ‘My God, I’m only 18. I am only 18, this is not supposed to happen.’ I remember Mum was walking with me to the car. She had her arm around me and I was sobbing. All the way to the hospital, I was shaking, and it didn’tdidn t stop for the next 24 hours,”hours, she revealed to The Australian Women’s Weekly.
At the time her debut album, Innocent Eyes, was at number one in Australia and number two in the UK charts. But the pop superstar was reduced to the vulnerability of a little girl.
“I just wanted my mum. As long as I could smell her hair and know she was near, I felt protected,” she says.
After emergency surgery to have the cancerous lump in her neck removed, she spent a year in and out of hospital.
“My arms were constantly aching from the chemotherapy,” says Delta, who also endured radiation and steroid treatment before she was finally told she was in remission.
Lesson learned
When she was diagnosed Delta had been juggling her prolific music career with her hectic Neighbours schedule. She was exhausted anda her health paid
‘In LA she’s just like every other blonde singer’
the price. But the experience taught her a valuable lesson.
“It’s amazing how I learnt to say no. The world won’t collapse if I say no. I know that now. But there is something inside that tells me I still have so much to give to people,” she says.
Future promise
Finally, after a tumultuous and tiring 12 months professionally, life on home soil is looking up for the star, whose latest album is predicted to top the charts.
Despite the harsh predictions, her tour is selling well. She’s just signed on for her sixth season of The Voice, and Jessie J, who made her life hell, has confirmed she will not be returning.
Delta is also set to become an aunty in August, as her younger brother Trent and his wife Carly welcome their first child.
A lesser person might have felt deflated after leaving LA without a grand-scale US following, but Delta has no time for self-pity. The battle she fought for her life is never far behind her, and she’s grateful for every second.
“It takes a long time to put the pieces back together,” Delta reflects. “It took a long time to put my pieces back together.”
Though she never wants to go through it again, she believes her cancer was a “gift”, something she can find strength in, whatever life throws her was.
“I believe God sent me this challenge for a reason, so I can help other people,” she says.