Olivia Newton-John to get a formal state memorial in Australia
Olivia Newton-John will get a huge, official state memorial in her homeland, it was confirmed Thursday — with the late “Grease” star’s niece tearfully saying that “Australia needs it.”
“I’m so pleased that Olivia Newtown-John’s family have accepted our offer of a State Memorial Service,” tweeted Victoria state Premier Dan Andrews, who called the “Grease” star “one in a million.”
“We’re working with Olivia’s family on the details, but it will be more of a concert than a funeral – fitting for a Victorian who lived such a rich and generous life,” he said.
Newton-John’s niece Totti Goldsmith had earlier confirmed during a tearful interview on “A Current Affair” that the family would accept what her interviewer called a “state funeral.”
She said the family will accept the offer “on behalf not just our family, but I think Australia needs it. She’s so loved.
“I think our country needs it, so we’re going to accept it,” said Goldsmith, wiping away her tears as she spoke about the “Grease” star, who died Monday at her home in Southern California.
In the same interview, Goldsmith — whose mother is the actress’ sister — said that her famous 73-year-old aunt “really went down in the past five, six days.”
“It’s not a shock, we’ve known how sick she’s been, especially the last five days,” she said of her aunt’s death.
“It wasn’t just the cancer that got her, it was other complications,” she said of the actress, who was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992.
“She got secondary infections … She really struggled with a lot of pain,” she said tearfully.
Goldsmith said that because she could not fly from her home in Melbourne to see her aunt in Southern California, she FaceTime the actress to say goodbye.
“I told her all the things I needed to say. She was leaving us… but I could feel like she got it,” she recalled of their final conversation two days before Newton-John’s death.
