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Olivia Newton-John Talks About Her Second Breast Cancer Battle: ‘Of Course I Have Fear’

Staying positive. Olivia Newton-John is on her road to recovery after fighting breast cancer for the second time. The actress spoke to the Today show in Melbourne, Australia in an interview shared on Thursday, September 21 — and said being diagnosed with the disease has taught her just how strong she really is.

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After 25 years in remission, Newton-John’s cancer came back four months ago, causing her to postpone her tour. “I thought I had sciatica. It was painful to walk,” the singer revealed. “I thought it was that. I was still performing. I would kind of grit my teeth, take a couple aspirin and go on.”

Olivia Newton-John breast cancer The Today Show
Olivia Newton-John on The Today Show.

“Having it happen again, I thought to myself, ‘I’ve done it before, I got through this before and I can do it again,’” the “I Honestly Love You” songstress said. “Of course, you have fear. That’s only natural. But my positive outlook is a decision. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I have dark moments and negative moments, I’m human. But on a general scale, I tend to see the glass is half full.”

The “Physical” singer doesn’t read into prognosis and statistics because it can be really “depressing,” saying: “I’m not going to be one of those statistics, I’m going to be fine. I’ll probably deal with this in my life as an ongoing thing. I think that you can live with cancer like you can live with other things if you take care of yourself.”

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The Grammy winner has learned to combine chemotherapy with other types of treatments such as natural supplements, massages, yoga and music therapy. After dealing with it the first time around, the star opened the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Center where she helps other patients and their families with their recovery. She said, “Without that experience, I wouldn’t have grown and had the desire or the passion to help other people who are going through it and the compassion to understand what it’s like when you’re going through cancer.”

The actress, 68, credits her recovery with the love and support from her daughter, Chloe Rose Lattanzi, and husband, John Easterling, but also in part due to medical marijuana. “People have this vision from the ’60s of people just sitting around and getting stoned. It’s not about that,” she said. “This plant is a healing plant. I think we need to change the vision of what it is because it helped me greatly and it helps with pain and inflammation.” 

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Despite her cancer diagnosis, Newton-John has maintained a positive attitude: “I think it taught me that I was stronger than I thought I was. Because even though you have a team around you and people helping you, really, in the end, it’s up to you. Believe you can do it and go through it. It made me stronger.”

As Us previously reported, her team revealed in May that she was diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time and was postponing her concert tour dates in the U.S. and Canada. The Grease star is currently back on tour and back in the recording studio and will be celebrating her 69th birthday on September 26.

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