Jane Seymour and Olivia Newton John had been friends for about 40 years.
Tuesday TODAY, Seymour, 71, recalled one of the last times she saw Newton-John before the Death of the star of “Grease”.
“I knew she had been really, really sick for a really long time, like a lot of people, and I had the privilege of seeing her not too long ago and talking to her,” Seymour said. “She was just an amazing person.”
“You know what brings tears to my eyes is that she always cared about other people. She had always asked about me, she had asked about my family about people we knew each other who were going through cancer and she was just this positive light and an amazing, amazing person,” Seymour continued.
The “Somewhere in Time” actor explained that she saw Newton-John when she and her sisters traveled far to visit him. But the moment they arrived, Newton-John forgot they were coming.
“She got the day wrong,” Seymour said. “But she knew we had traveled about two or three hours to get there. And she got out of bed, got dressed, and got out in a walker. I mean, she shouldn’t have gotten out of bed at all. And she just sat with us for quite a while and asked about us, ‘How are we? How were our lives? How could she help us? And then she just looked around and she said, ‘Isn’t it nice here?’ And I said, ‘Yes, it is.’ She said, “I’m sitting here just watching the world. How beautiful! Look at the sky, look at the hummingbirds, look at this dog, look at this life we have and look at us together after all these years.
Seymour said Newton-John’s perspective on life reminded him that “life is a journey.”
“There are ups and downs and she just had such strength and such courage and as much as she was in pain, she never talked about it,” Seymour said. “She just put a smile on her face and said, ‘You know what? I thrive.’
On Monday, Newton-John’s husband, John Easterling, announced that she passed away “peacefully at his ranch in Southern California”, surrounded by family and friends. Newton-John was 73 years old.
“We ask everyone to respect the privacy of the family during this very difficult time,” he said in a statement. Facebook.
Newton-John’s death comes after she was treated multiple times for breast cancer. Seymour said if there’s anything anyone can ever learn from Newton-John, it’s that she “always did her best and gave back,” like the wellness center and Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Center which she built in Australia.
“In fact, I had the privilege of going to his hospital. The one she built in Melbourne and it was amazing,” Seymour said.
“There was a vibe when you went there,” she added. “You just said, ‘Oh my God, Olivia has built the dream place for people who have to go through the cycle of cancer.
Newton-John’s accomplishments were among the many things Seymour adored about the singer. She also liked that she and Newton-John had a lot in common and could relate to the challenges they faced in becoming superstars.
“We’ve had a lot of ups and downs with careers, husbands, kids and life. We had a very special bond and it was pretty unique to me,” Seymour said. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a friend who could really understand or wanted to understand what this life was like and I really miss her.”