An icon has passed away, but before leaving Olivia Newton-John revealed she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in 2019. The singer and actress, immediately sold off most of her massive real estate portfolio in order to invest more into her foundation and wellness center.
“Olivia loved helping people. She spent the last two decades of her life giving back,” a source close to Newton-John said. “She wanted to leave behind something that would last, and something that her daughter, too, could benefit from.”
Newton-John, who shared a 36-year-old daughter, Chloe Rose Lattanzi, with her first husband, Matt Lattanzi, listed her California horse ranch of four years for $5.4 million in 2019. However, she decided to spend her remaining days in the home.
Instead, in October 2021, records show Newton-John, who died Monday at age 73, officially transferred full ownership of the Santa Barbara estate to her husband, John Easterling, who re-financed the mortgage with $2.5 million left on the home.
“She was in a lot of pain, but she was a fighter,” the source explained. “The place was her heaven on Earth and it gave her many calming moments in her final days.”
“They loved it,” Michael Caprio, her friend and publicist said.
Olivia and her husband had initially purchased the 4 bedroom, 5 bath Santa Ynez property for $4.69 million in 2015. Situated on 12 plus acres alongside the Santa Ynez River with a 4,452 square feet main house, other amenities included a two-bedroom guest house, a barn, horse stables, and a pool.
Newly built in 2008, the contemporary estate features a main residence that accented with wood, sky-lighted ceilings in the great room, windows in the gourmet kitchen and an opulent sun room.
In June 2019, one month after listing her California home, she put her 189-acre Australian farm on the market. She initially purchased the land, located in the town of Dalwood in New South Wales, in the 1980s and rebuilt the home in the early 2000s. A month later, it sold for $4.6 million.
The French country-style property is made up of eight lots, with a three-bedroom, two-bathroom main house and a one-bedroom guest suite.
The home features a terracotta-colored exterior and rustic interiors, as well as wraparound terraces. The compound has its own robust rainforest with a natural waterfall, two dams, a creek and large bird populations, according to the previous listing. It also borders a national park called Victoria Park Nature Reserve, which adds to the privacy of its secluded location.
Over the years, the late Australian singer, actor and entrepreneur had invested in her Olivia Newton-John Cancer & Wellness Centre at Melbourne’s Austin Hospital. She established the facility in 2012 at a cost of $189 million, with state and federal funding plus philanthropic support bringing it to fruition.
In 2005, she co-founded the award-winning Gaia Retreat & Spa, a health retreat in the Bunjalung Country of Byron Bay, a region often known as the healing heartland of Australia.
She also launched the Olivia Newton-John Foundation in recent years.
“The idea is to fund research into kinder ways to treat cancer, to prevent cancer, and to live well with cancer,” she said in a 2020 interview with Forbes. “So, all those things, I believe, we will eventually see a world beyond it where it’s just treated as any other illness that you can kind of control and live well with and, of course, hopefully cure it. Living well is something that I do, and I’m hoping that I can help others do that.”
She was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, then again in 2013, before her third and final diagnosis back in 2017.
“Olivia has been a symbol of triumphs and hope for over 30 years sharing her journey with breast cancer,” her husband of 14 years wrote in a statement posted to social media on Monday. “Her healing inspiration and pioneering experience with plant medicine continues with the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund, dedicated to researching plant medicine and cancer.”
