Olivia Newton-John’s niece Totti Goldsmith has revealed how she said her final goodbye to her beloved aunt over FaceTime two days ago.
Totti, who lives in Melbourne, said the family was prepared for the death of the Australian entertainment icon.
“It’s not a shock, we’ve known how sick she’s been, especially the last five days,” he said.
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Olivia Newton-John’s ‘beautiful’ final Instagram post was shared just days before her death. (Instagram)
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“John, her husband, has been keeping us in the loop and I’ve been talking to the beautiful Chloe a lot.
“I couldn’t get to America in time and I wanted to say goodbye so I asked her if I could put the phone to her ear but she put me on Facetime and I managed to see her.
“I told him all the things I needed to say.
“She was leaving us…but I could feel that she had made it.”
Totti, whose mother was Olivia’s sister, revealed more about the performer’s final moments.
She said that while both she and the family were “optimistic”, she was down.
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Olivia Newton-John’s niece Totti Goldsmith, who lives in Melbourne, said the family was prepared for the Australian entertainment icon’s death. (new)
“It wasn’t just the cancer that got her, it was other complications, being in the hospital and with a very susceptible immune system,” he said.
“He had secondary infections.
“It really went down in the last five or six days.”
He said that while Olivia had been an advocate for cannabinoids, recently it had not been enough to help with her pain.
“It helped him a lot, but then it wasn’t enough,” Totti said.
“He’s really struggled through a lot of pain.”
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She reflected on asking Olivia about coping with death a few years ago, when she was receiving treatment at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute she established in Melbourne.
“She was very thin and very unwell and I said, ‘Are you afraid you’re going to die?'” she said.
“She said, ‘Plonker,’ which was my nickname, she said, ‘I don’t have it, I’m not afraid, I’ve done more in my life than I could have imagined.’
“Honestly, he never imagined his life would be the way it was.”
She said it was the Cancer Center and helping other patients that really got her through her own illness.
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“She was deeply, deeply passionate about what she could give back to this planet, and she did,” Totti said.
He said the family would accept the offer of a state funeral, which has been made by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.
“I think Australia needs it,” he said.
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(ACA)