Australian singer Vanessa Amorosi appeared overwhelmed with emotion and had to withdraw from her live interview on Sunrise this morning, only to learn of Olivia Newton-John’s death.
After performing at the closing ceremony of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, Amorosi was booked to appear at the event to discuss her new single.
But Newton-John’s death at the age of 73 after a long cancer battle was the biggest news of the morning, sunrise Hosts Natalie Barr and David Koch were previously eager to ask Amorosi about her memories of the star.
“It’s an incredibly sad day – Vanessa, what are your memories?” Barr asked as he walked up to the Australian singer in Birmingham.
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“Uh… I don’t know. I don’t want to particularly think about it, because I would get so emotional,” Amorosi began. “I literally had one of the highest endorphins out there right now (in the closing ceremony) ) who was extremely sad and was checking my phone. I don’t think I’ve really processed it yet.”
The coach said he would give Amorosi a chance to “compose” his thoughts about the late music legend, and changed behavior to discuss his Commonwealth Games performance and new single.
A few minutes later, and with the end of the interview, the hosts shifted the topic of conversation back to Olivia Newton-John.
“We know it’s a sad day for you and so many others, but we wanted to show this photo from Olivia Newton-John and Tina Arena a few years back,” Barr captioned a photo of the three Australian singers. Said appeared on screen at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
“Can you talk us through those memories, at that time, Vanessa?”
Amorosi gave it his best – but was soon overcome with emotion.
“I’ve seen these two women since (I) had a baby… I don’t know. To be honest, I’m very sad about Olivia. Its…”
Saying this, he bowed his head and raised his hand and signaled to stop the interview.
Barr and the coach thanked them for their time – and Barr noted how hard it must have been to learn the news between the live performances and the live TV interviews.
“Extremely awful. I feel for him after I’m away from him.”
It’s been an emotional morning on Breakfast Television as Newton-John’s friends, colleagues and fans reacted in real time to the news of her death, when it broke at around 5:30 a.m.
Over on Nine, veteran entertainment reporter Richard Wilkins was the first to put it together as he reported the sad news today — but later in the morning, he became emotional, crying as host Karl Stefanovic ran to comfort him.
further backwards sunriseAnother emotional live interview, this time on the streets of Los Angeles with Grease casting director Joel Thurm, who cried out loud As he described his fond memories of Newton-John.
The British-born, Melbourne-born entertainer fought a decades-long battle against cancer, which returned in 2013.
In May 2017, she announced that her breast cancer had returned and had metastasized to her sacrum, and in 2018, it was revealed that she was battling the disease again.
In October last year, Newton-John revealed that she was battling stage 4 breast cancer, but was managing the pain with medical marijuana.
Then today came the news that fans had been dreading for years: Newton-John had died at her Southern California ranch, surrounded by loved ones, including her husband, John Easterling, and daughter, Chloe Latanzi.
Chloe took to social media today to pay tribute to her late mother – whom she referred to as her “best friend” a few days ago.