How Olivia Newton-John’s fame took a toll on her daughter Chloe Lattanzi

Olivia Newton-John‘s successful career in the entertainment industry took a major toll on her daughter Chloe Lattanzi’s life.

Chloe, the only daughter of Olivia and her ex-husband Matt Lattanzi, revealed in 2013 how fame ‘messed her up’.

She also admitted it was ‘hard spending at lot of time alone’ as Olivia travelled when she was a child.

But she credited her mum for helping her overcome personal demons – including her battle with substance abuse, body dysmorphia and anorexia.

Olivia died peacefully aged 73  at her home in southern California on Monday, surrounded by family and friends following a lengthy battle with breast cancer. 

The four-time Grammy winner was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, undergoing a partial mastectomy and reconstruction.

Olivia to the rescue  

In 2019, Chloe, 36, told 60 Minutes she’d learned to be stronger and deal with her own demons in order to be there for her cancer-stricken mother.

She said: ‘We say we all have our cancers. Mine is my battle with addiction. I have to keep myself sober the rest of my life and that’s a fight and it takes work. And we all have our cancers.’ 

She went on: ‘I’m not trying to make her struggle sound small, I’m trying to say, I think it makes it easier to deal with when you go, “Oh yeah, everyone has a cancer”.’

In 2018, Chloe revealed her mother pulled her back from the brink of death in a self-penned column for Woman’s Day magazine. 

‘We both struggled – me with addiction, anxiety and anorexia, and Mum with feeling helpless during my darkest hours,’ Chloe wrote for the publication.

She went on to explain how it was a difficult time for them both.

‘I hated that my life was broadcast all over the world. It was horrifying to me. For my mum, it was also a terribly hard time. She felt powerless and didn’t know what to do,’ she wrote. 

‘We were just talking about it and she said to me, “I did everything I could. I sent you to every specialist, every person I thought might be able to help”. I told her, “You know mum, all I really needed was you”.’

Chloe’s substance abuse and mental health battle 

Chloe was born into fame thanks to her Grease star mother’s Hollywood career. 

Chloe too had aspirations of becoming a singer, and began performing when she was just seven years old. 

At age 15, Chloe landed her first record deal. It was later that year her eating disorder would begin.  

Chloe continued to buckle to the pressures of fame as a teenager, swiftly descending into a dangerous spiral of drugs and alcohol abuse to manage her depression. 

By her 20s, the aspiring singer was splashing over $100 on cocaine and drinking half a bottle of vodka every day – often leading to her blacking out. 

Her planned marriage to jit-jitsu instructor James Driskill was also postponed as a result of her issues, with an initial attempt to get clean – a 30-day treatment program in 2011 – ending in failure.

Also in 2011, Chloe raised concerns after she starred in a pop video for her song Play With Me, featuring the singer taking drugs and attempting suicide. 

Chloe defended the controversial clip, posted a video response saying: ‘It’s an artist’s job to challenge ideas. So that’s what I’m doing. As you can see, I’m a very well-adjusted person… It’s purely just for artistic value.’ 

In 2012 she suffered a breakdown after mixing alcohol with prescription medications, and as a result entered a rehabilitation facility for seven months. 

A very public collapse 

In December 2009, Woman’s Day magazine reported that a ‘dishevelled’ Chloe had collapsed in front of a strip club in West Hollywood. 

Chloe, who was 23 at the time, reportedly fell to the ground and needed assistance to stand back up after she and a female friend were refused entry into the Star Strip Theatre. 

The publication claimed Chloe was visibly drunk, and begged the bouncer to ‘please let us in’ for 10 minutes, while repeatedly being asked to leave the club’s entrance. 

Chloe reportedly had difficulty speaking and walking before she collapsed to the ground after being denied entry.

Near-fatal body image battle 

Chloe has famously struggled with body dysmorphia and anorexia, at one stage admitting she weighed just 37 kilos. 

Her mother went public with Chloe’s battle in 2007 in an interview with American TV show Entertainment Tonight, admitting she feared for her daughter during her lowest ebb with the eating disorder. 

She said: ‘You don’t want to think anything could be wrong – that’s not to say I wasn’t frightened, nervous and anxious for her. There was a time I was in denial about it, I have to admit that.’

Her habit of digitally ‘touching up’ her social media photos appears to be linked to the body-image problems she faced as a teenager.   

After being called out for a Photoshop fail in 2016, she admitted to fans: ‘I thought I looked fat so I Photoshopped myself a little thinner. Then someone called me out, and I’m glad they did.

‘Thank whoever you were for calling me out on my bulls**t. I’ve got to remember [I’m] never going to be perfect.’

Breaking her silence 

In an interview with The Mail on Sunday back in 2013, Chloe revealed she had been abusing cocaine, alcohol and antidepressants for years prior to checking into rehab. 

‘Fame totally messes you up. I don’t blame my mother for my problems, but I would never want to be famous or raise a child of my own around the cult of celebrity. It ruins lives,’ she said at the time.

‘If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it is that you can’t be fragile in this business, or else you end up like Lindsay Lohan.’

In 2016, Chloe again spoke about her demons in an interview with Woman’s Day magazine, telling the publication the pressure of growing up in the spotlight prompted her rapid descent into drug and alcohol abuse.

In the interview, Chloe said she’d developed a costly addiction to cocaine after being drawn into the LA party scene as a result of the ‘immense pressure’ that came with being the Grease star’s daughter.

‘Growing up I was under immense pressure being the daughter of such a famous woman. You don’t have a normal childhood and you don’t have that space to make mistakes and find your feet, as everyone is watching you,’ she said. 

‘I started to get into the party scene, drinking every night, and then before long I got introduced to cocaine and all of a sudden, the combination of those things took away all the fear and depression and that is when the cycle began.’

At the time of her article, Chloe had spent the previous seven months living in a sober facility undergoing five hours of therapy a day, as she attempted to overcome her addictions. 

She said: ‘I honestly felt that for the first time in my life there was hope. I am really proud of how far I’ve come and so are all my family and James.’

Olivia speaks out 

Olivia also addressed her daughter’s issues during a 2016 interview with 60 Minutes.  

‘I think it’s hard to be the child of a person in the limelight, I really understand that,’ she told the program.

‘There’s privilege but there’s also other things that come along with that.’

In 2020, Olivia broke down in tears when Chloe said she had found her ‘self-worth’ again, during an emotional interview on 10 News First.

‘I’m so happy that she’s happy, and just shining, and has so much power and strength and bravery,’ the Grease star said of her only child, who at the time was competing on Dancing With The Stars Australia. 

‘She’s doing things I never could have done. I never did anything ambitious as you are doing, darling,’ Olivia proudly told her.

Source: | Dailymail.co.uk