Olivia: Staying Strong
Singer Olivia Newton-John's boyfriend Patrick McDermott has been missing for almost three and a half months. Over the weekend, Mary Hart of "Entertainment Tonight" spoke with Newton-John who shared her heartbreak and her hopes. Hart told The Early Show what it was like to share Newton-John's pain.
Nothing was off limits with this interview. She was great about that. But when we got to the subject of Patrick and the disappearance, and their relationship, it clearly became overwhelmingly emotional.
"Sorry, still human," Newton-John said patting her teary eyes with a tissue.
The pain is still right beneath the surface for Olivia. Three months after Patrick disappeared, she's doing her best to cope.
"It's really, really painful for me. And it is really, really personal," she said. "We miss him. We love him. We're still kind of praying that there's a chance he'll come back."
It was last July that Patrick was first reported missing after going on a one-day fishing trip off the Southern California coast. The mystery remains unsolved, with authorities wondering if it was murder, suicide, or an accident in which Patrick could've fallen off the boat.
"I go back and forth," Newton-John said. "Speculation is really a dangerous thing, just really, really hard."
The two had known each other for nine years at the time of his disappearance, and Patrick had recently expressed his love for Olivia in a taped tribute.
"I love you with all my heart," he said. "And I'll talk to you later. I love you."
How does she go on, get up in the morning, and face the day? "I do a lot of things," she said with a big sigh. "I meditate. I pray. I listen to my songs. It's almost ironic I wrote the songs. It's like I wrote them for myself."
Talking about all this for the first time has brought all of the emotion right back to the surface. But she's incredibly strong. She has been through a divorce. She has been through ups and downs in her career. And, of course, she has fought and won her battle with breast cancer.
"You come out of it stronger than you were before you went into it because you learn so much; you grow as a person," Newton-John said. "You don't wish it on anyone, but you learn."
Receiving strength from her faith, Olivia confided that one of the most memorable moments of her life was going with Patrick and her daughter, Chloe, to the Vatican for an audience with the Pope.
"He was sitting on a big chair, and gave us all rosary beads," Newton-John said. "It was a very special moment."
In addition to Chloe, who's now 19, Olivia has also received comfort from an unlikely source — Patrick's ex-wife, who was the first to report him missing.
"Patrick's ex-wife gave me this shirt," Newton-John said pointing at the shirt she was wearing. "It's hard for her, too."
Don't miss the whole interview on "E.T."
In the second part of Hart's interview, Newton-John talks about what she went through 13 years ago when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer. And what, if anything, she told her young daughter.