Olivia Newton-John has been diagnosed with cancer for the third time in three decades.
“I’m one of millions in this fight … in this journey,” the actress, 69, said on the Australian show Sunday Night on Sunday, September 9. “A lot of people see it as a fight, and [however] you choose to see it, that’s your prerogative. … I see it as part of my mission.”
Newton-John revealed that doctors found a tumor in her lower back sometime in 2017. “I’m still treating it, and I’m treating it naturally and doing really well,” she said before explaining that she has cut sugar out of her diet, undergone radiation treatments and is now taking cannabis oil to treat her pain.
“A lot of cannabis, my husband [John Easterling] grows for me. In California, it’s legal to grow a certain amount of plants for your own medicinal purposes,” she said. “He makes me tinctures … and they help with pain, they help with sleep. So, I’m very lucky that I live in a state where it’s legal and that I have a husband that is a plant medicine man.”
The Grease star said she hopes that her native Australia will also legalize medical marijuana soon for “all the cancer patients and people going through cancer or any kind of disease that causes pain.”
Newton-John was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992. She became a fierce advocate for cancer research and screening after overcoming the disease and undergoing a partial mastectomy followed by reconstruction. She was diagnosed with breast cancer for a second time in 2013.
Amid her health issues, the “Physical” singer is doing her best to stay strong. “I’m a very privileged person, and I’m very aware of that,” she said on Sunday. “I have a wonderful husband, I have all the animals I adore, I have an incredible career. I have nothing really to complain about.”
