Olivia Newton-John dies at 73: John Travolta reacts

Travolta shared an old photo of Olivia with a sweet caption, “My dearest Olivia, you made all of our lives so much better,” he wrote. “Your impact was incredible. I love you so much. We will see you down the road, and we will all be together again. Yours from the first moment I saw you and forever! Your Danny, your John!” The 68-year-old continued.

Olivia was 28 years old when she filmed Grease, and Travolta was 23. They maintained a friendship spanning over four decades, and while they had great chemistry, they were never romantic off-screen. “We were both with other people when we were filming and I think, respectfully, it just didn’t happen,“ she explained in the past, per Smooth Radio.

There is a photo of them kissing at a premiere party but they never dated, Travolta’s costars said he had a crush on her though. Didi Conn, who played Frenchy told the Daily Mail in 2018, “Oh yeah, [he did like her].” “What was so much fun was that most of us were older than the characters we were playing so we just stayed in character all day long. So there was an ongoing improvisation happening so the flirting… was fine,” she continued.

While Olivia’s acting career soared after she starred in Grease, she was proving to be a pop star before its release. Her singles topped the AC chart, where she amassed ten No. 1 singles including a record seven consecutively, from 1974 to 1976.

Newton-John’s music career cooled down in the ‘80s, and she was hoping to have a successful return when she compiled her third hits collection, Back to Basics: The Essential Collection 1971–1992. The singer was planning a tour but had to cancel it after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, shortly after the album’s release.

The costars famously reunited in 2002 to sing “You’re The One That I Want,” and he supported her throughout the years. In 2018 she said he would check up on her while she was undergoing breast cancer treatment, “He’s been wonderful. He calls and checks up on me,” she said. “He came to one of my shows — right before this happened, actually, right before my diagnosis,” the late star continued. “I saw him and I was hobbling around the dinner table because I was having trouble sitting down. And he was concerned.” Olivia said.

After she recovered, the kind of music she recorded changed, and she continued to release music and was an advocate while doing so. Her second exclusive album for Hallmark Cards was released in 2005, and proceeds from the album’s sales benefited breast cancer research. The album featured the song “Phenomenal Woman” based on the poem by Maya Angelou with featured guest vocals from Patti LaBelle, Mindy Smith, and other singers who have survived cancer or have been affected by it.

Newton-John’s career continued, despite three bouts of cancer. After her 1992 diagnosis is returned in 2013, and again in 2017. During this time, she had a Vegas residency, and the three-year run prompted a fourth live album, Summer Nights: Live in Las Vegas (2015). She went on to be a guest judge on an episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race and was inducted into the Music Victoria Hall of Fame in 2015.

As recently as last year, she released music. In January 2021, she released a new single, “Window in the Wall”, with her daughter Chloe Lattanzi and the music video for the song peaked at No. 1 on the iTunes pop music video chart the week of its release.