Olivia Newton-John went silent on social media over summer 2022, making her final Instagram
post all the more heartbreaking.
Here's what her final post tells us about her last days.
Olivia Newton-John, the star of the beloved movie-musical Grease, died on August 8, 2022,
her family confirmed on her official social media accounts.
She was 73.
While the official cause of death has not been released, the post celebrated the star's
long journey with breast cancer, symbolized by the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund.
“'Cause we're not just a body going through cancer.
We're a whole human with a mind, body, spirit, and a soul."
Newton-John was first diagnosed in 1992, People reported.
She underwent a partial mastectomy to treat the tumor.
The cancer returned in 2013, though she opted not to disclose the diagnosis at the time.
Regarding her decision to keep the diagnosis private, the actress told the Australian television
program Sunday Night,
"It's my life' and I just decided to keep it to myself."
By 2017, Newton-John's tumor had evolved to stage IV and spread to her back, People reported.
Through the years, Newton-John poured herself into raising funds and awareness for breast
cancer.
In fact, it was through her activism that she met her husband John Easterling, an herbalist
who has been studying the methods of Indigenous healers in the Amazon regions since 1976.
Their effort to find gentler ways to fight the disease led Newton-John and Easterling
to jointly establish the foundation named after her.
Newton-John and Easterling married in 2008, a union she celebrated until the last days
of her life — even publicly.
Olivia Newton-John updated her 500,000+ Instagram fans one final time on August 5, 2022.
The post was dedicated to her husband.
In the snap, she and Easterling are seated close to the ground in nature against a backdrop
of tall vegetation.
Easterling has his arms wrapped around Newton-John, who is smiling at the camera.
The shot is from her October 2016 People profile.
Her fans were quick to gush over the happiness Newton-John and Easterling exuded.
One person wrote in the comments section:
"You two make the perfect couple."
Another commenter wished Newton-John luck in her health journey, writing,
"Beautiful photo!
I'm sending you wishes for continued good health.
I'm keeping you in my prayers.
Love and light."
Some even expressed concern over Newton-John's decreased social media presence in recent
weeks, with one worried fan writing,
"I'm not the only one wondering if you're really okay.
The silence is [deafening] and to be honest sometimes scary."
Newton-John's last update before the photo with her husband was on July 15.
Newton-John's post honoring Easterling takes on extra meaning as she mainly used her Instagram
for work or activism-related content.
Rarely did she use it to honor her family.
In December 2020, she shared a photo that showed her and Easterling kissing under the
mistletoe, but even then she used it to promote the work of the Olivia Newton-John Foundation.
"My dream is to find kinder ways to treat cancer."
Olivia Newton-John met John Easterling in 2007, two years after the baffling disappearance
of her longtime partner Patrick McDermott.
In the aftermath of the traumatic events, Newton-John turned her focus to her activism
and was in no rush to be in a relationship again.
Her passion for finding alternative cancer treatments led her to a trip to the Amazon,
one that John Easterling was also on.
Newton-John told People in 2016,
"I wasn't expecting to fall in love with him and then bam!"
It wasn't the first time Easterling and Newton-John's paths crossed.
They were introduced by a mutual acquaintance shortly after she was diagnosed with cancer,
but nothing happened between them at the time.
The rainforest trip all those years later marked a new chapter in Newton-John's life.
Through Easterling, the Grease actress learned the meaning of true love, telling People,
"I found the love of my life at 59 going on 60!
I'm grateful."
A year after meeting, they returned to South America in June 2008 to tie the knot in an
Incan celebration in the Peruvian mountains, People reported.
Newton-John and Easterling's marriage became official later that month, when they wed in
Florida.
But the Amazon ceremony is the one she held close to her heart, with Newton-John opening
an exception in her work-filled Instagram to mark the occasion on June 21, 2020.
The actress gushed in the post:
"Seems like yesterday I married the man of my dreams in Peru on the winter solstice."