Olivia Newton-John, who played Sandy in the popular movie Grease, has died at the age of 73, the Guardian reports.
The British-Australian actress died on her farm in Santa Ynez among her family, friends and husband, John Easterling, who announced her death in a statement on Facebook.
He wrote: “Mrs. Olivia Newton-John (aged 73) passed away peacefully on her Southern California ranch this morning.” “We ask everyone to respect the family’s privacy during this very difficult time.”
“Olivia has been an icon of triumph and hope for over 30 years sharing her journey with breast cancer,” the 70-year-old said, revealing her death from breast cancer.
The singer, who has released an astonishing 26 studio albums, was first diagnosed with the disease in 1992. Then it came back in 2013 and it spread to her spine in 2017, progressing to stage 4.
Olivia has been married to John since 2008, but he is not her first husband. Before that, she was with a guy named Matt Latanzi – but who is he? Read on to find out more about their marriage…
Lock and key 3 | Final Season Trailer | Netflix
BridTV
11053
Lock and key 3 | Final Season Trailer | Netflix
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PX-t1wYNtBs/hqdefault.jpg
1071970
1071970
Center
13872
Who is Matt Latanzi?
Matthew Vincent Latans is an American former actor and dancer.
He had a brief acting career, appearing in the movie My Tutor and the soap opera Paradise Beach, but is best known for being the first husband of Olivia Newton-John.
According to IMDb, the 63-year-old actor from Portland, Oregon has starred in Roxanne (1987), Xanadu (1980) and Grease 2 (1982).
They had one daughter, Chloe Rose Latanzi, who was born in 1986 and is now an American singer and actress.
The 36-year-old has released a single album titled No Pain and four singles including Wings and a Gun and Play With Me and You Have To Believe featuring her mother.
They were married for 11 years
Olivia married and died in 1984 after meeting on the set of Xanadu, which they both starred in.
The film is about a struggling artist played by Michael Beck who is instantly attracted to an unknown woman who is portrayed in the background of one of his assignments, performed by Olivia Newton-John.
They struck immediately and continued to live on a farm in Australia with their daughter Chloe, which the actress said Spokesman-Review had had a “much simpler” and “happier” life.
However, their marriage did not last and they separated after a decade in 1995.
As reported by PEOPLE, they released a joint statement on April 24 announcing their divorce, saying, “We regrettably announce an amicable separation.”
Not much is known about the reason for their breakup, but the Mail Online reported that the marriage fell apart due to an affair.
inside their relationship
Some weren’t surprised that the marriage didn’t last because they were an odd couple from the start.
Initially, she was 31 when they got married and he was only 20, so there was a pretty big age gap between the couple.
In addition, they came from completely different backgrounds, with Olivia being the daughter of a British professor of German literature and Matt the son of an Oregon maintenance man.
When he met Olivia, he was an unknown backup dancer and was a huge star who had huge success following her role as Sandy in Grease.
However, they had a happy marriage despite many dark times. Olivia filed for bankruptcy in 1990 and was also diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992 while they were together.
As reported by PEOPLE, actress Totti Goldsmith’s niece said Matt was “very supportive” during her cancer diagnosis.
Speaking to Spokesman-Review, he called Olivia a “living beam of light” and said, “How can any cancer survive in all that light?”