Legging it to LA

Olivia Newton-John is responsible for some of the most embarrassing photos in my family album. Well, that’s what I like to think, anyway…

You see, there aren’t too many girls who look good in lycra leggings – and I am not one of them. But could you stop me from wearing them as a youngster when Grease came out? Oh no, there was no stopping me and, believe me, people tried. My brother wouldn’t let me play in the park with his friends if I was wearing my spray-on lycra pants, so I would put my old pair of cords on over the top and whip them off when his cute friends arrived, revealing my Kermit green shiny legs, knobbly knees and all.

You see, I wanted to be Olivia in that movie so bad. Not sweet Sandy from Grease, but the high-heeled vixen at the end – the bad girl who made John Travolta growl in delight. Unfortunately, the reactions I got for my attempts were more grimace than groan, but, to this day, I can still recreate the entire last scene of the movie, shaking my shoulders and rocking on an imaginary seesaw just as my idol Olivia did so many years ago.

It should come as no surprise then that I was excited beyond words when my editor, Robyn Foyster, told me I was to fly to Los Angeles to interview my childhood idol for The Weekly’s cover story. What made the assignment even more exciting was the fact that I was also going to meet Olivia’s daughter, Chloe, whose music I came across a couple of years ago when her debut album was released.

My tastes had changed a lot since my early You’re the One that I Want days and Chloe’s music was exactly where it had headed – dark, intense, rocking. It was an interesting paradox that Australia’s sweetheart could produce a daughter who was also musically gifted – only in a completely different direction. I wondered what Olivia thinks of Chloe’s music and what Chloe thinks of her mums? Could two women so different artistically really have a lot in common?