Exclusive: Dannii Minogue reveals how Olivia Newton-John shaped her career and praises her kindness
Dannii Minogue has revealed Olivia Newton-John was the kindest celebrity she has ever met.
EXCLUSIVE: Remembering Olivia Newton-John - Her family, Dolly Parton, Sir Cliff and more share memories
The Australian singer joins Dolly Parton, Sir Cliff Richard and more of the Grease star’s celebrity friends in paying tribute to the late star, exclusively with HELLO! Olivia died aged 73 at her Californian ranch on August 8, 30 years after her initial breast cancer diagnosis.
In HELLO!’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month digital issue, we celebrate the legacy she leaves behind and speak to her friends. Putting her top of her kind list, Dannii gushed Olivia was "glowing, radiating warmth and love".
She told HELLO!: "Olivia Newton-John, who I have met quite a few times, would be at the top of my kind list. It is such a sad time at the moment to have lost her, and I know a lot of her family members, and there's no one else that will walk into a room like Olivia.
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"It's literally like there was a light inside and she was glowing just with this radiating warmth and love. She just wanted everyone to be happy and to be kind to people and I've never seen anything like it."
Olivia had enlisted Dannii on a special task, she asked her to help raise money to build a hospital which would become her legacy – the Olivia Newton-John Cancer, Wellness & Research hospital.
It was a project that was close to Olivia's heart. Remembering Olivia, Dannii looks back fondly on the trek across China they did together. She said: "Olivia asked me to help her raise some money to build a hospital. It's the Olivia Newton-John Cancer, Wellness & Research hospital in Melbourne, that is my hometown, we did a trek across China and got people to sponsor us.
Olivia having a wonderful time on the trek in 2008
"There were a lot of people on the walk that did that with us from Joan Rivers to Cliff Richard, Australian stars, we raised the money to build this hospital. As she spent time in the hospital, she really worked with not only the medical staff but in the feeling of what it felt like to be in a hospital bed - particularly stuck there for quite some time.
"It's still an incredible hospital in Melbourne. There are so many people being treated there and helped. That's a proud moment. Her niece was saying after Olivia passed apart from her daughter it is the thing she is most proud of doing."
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Wearing her heart on her sleeve, Dannii opened up about the time she told Olivia she inspired her to go into a showbusiness career. She added: "To so many people Olivia is an inspiration but for me, I told her when we did this walk – I had met her before briefly – that I wanted to get this off my chest, 'You are the reason why I have been in entertainment my whole life.'
The Grease star smiled for the camera on her walk to Beijing
"She was like, 'What are you talking about?' I said, 'I saw Grease and I said, I was so young I didn't know that was a job.' What do you call it? You sing, you dance, you act. That's what I want to do.
"It was about that energy, that light that shines through her face, way back then to all the recent stuff that she has done. She is my inspiration for being here."
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