The Olivia Newton-John Only I Knew

THE WIDOWER OF THE BELOVED SINGER AND GREASE STAR SHARES THEIR INTIMATE LOVE STORY

- LOUISE A. BARILE

On what would have been their 15th anniversary, John Easterling returned to the cliff in Peru where he and Olivia Newton-John pledged their love in 2008. "A hummingbird came and hovered. I could almost reach out and touch it," he tells Closer, adding that it felt as if the tiny bird were delivering a message. "It came in like, 'Live life, love life,' and then it flew away."

The British-born, Australia-reared singer and actress, who became an international sensation playing Sandy in the 1978 moviemusical Grease, remains a part of her husband's life 18 months after her death. "I feel her early in the morning when I wake up," John says. "I receive messages, if you will, from her. They're always very encouraging, very positive and comforting to me in a big way." Despite Olivia's success, beauty and enviable talent, she'd been unlucky in love until she fell for John, 71. She and her first husband, actor Matt Lattanzi, the father of her daughter, Chloe, 38,divorced in 1996 after 12 years of marriage.

Another long relationship, with Patrick McDermott, a cameraman, ended in 2005 when he was lost at sea.

Mutual friends arranged for Olivia and John, a specialist in Amazonian plant medicine, to have lunch on a blind date around 1995. "I was a little suspect of meeting a Hollywood diva," John admits, "but she had such a great sense of humor and was a really warm, personable human being. She was not what I was expecting."

LET ME BE THERE

First diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, Olivia was interested in John's work with plant medicine and alternative therapies. For 12 years, the pair remained platonic friends who largely saw each other at charity events.