HELEN REDDY'S FRIENDS TELL 'SHE WANTED TO COME HOME'

A YEAR AFTER HER DEATH, THE ICON’S NEAREST CELEBRATE HER LEGACY

Singing sensation Helen Reddy, who died a year ago in Los Angeles after a struggle with dementia, desperately wanted to return to Australia, the icon’s family and closest friends tell New Idea.

Barry Croker, an Aussie acting legend and one of Helen’s dearest pals, says the ‘I Am Woman’ singer missed her birth country deeply.

“In her last few years, Helen would tell me during our regular phone chats that she wanted to come home,” he says. “She missed Australia, her friends, and she really wanted to be with her cherished sister, entertainer Toni Lamond.”

Barry recalls that Helen was hardly a party girl. But if she were still alive, she certainly would have “kicked up her heels” to celebrate what would have been her 80th birthday on October 25.

“Sadly, because of her health, that final trip home wasn’t possible,” he says. “Fortunately, she had the love of her daughter Traci and her granddaughter Lily, who lived not far away in Malibu. And her son Jordan, who lives in London, cared deeply for his mum,” explains Barry, who had known Helen since 1960.