Chloe Lattanzi is now officially doing what her mom did.
Less than a week after saying goodbye to her mom, Olivia Newton-John, who died of breast cancer at age 73 last August, Chloe Lattanzi, who is 37, said that she and her stepfather John Easterling would be taking over her mother’s annual Walk for Wellness in Australia.
“It’s a huge honor,” says Lattanzi about being in charge of the cancer walk fundraiser, which will take place in Melbourne for only the second time without Newton-John. “I could never let my mom’s dream die, and I can feel her guiding me from inside, like, “This is your job.” “This is what you should do.”
This is not the first time Lattanzi has felt the presence of her late mother. At Newton-state John’s funeral on February 26, she tells PEOPLE, “I was very emotional before I got up on stage.” “It’s not easy for me because it’s my mother, a person I loved more than anything else in the world, and I had to stand up in front of the whole world and talk about how sad I was.”
She goes on, “Still, there was something… Every day, I feel my mom with me. We talk every day, and I just felt her come into me and walk me up those stairs. She always told me, “You’re so much stronger than you think,” and I kept those words in mind.”
Lattanzi’s support system also includes her husband James Driskill, her father Matt Lattanzi, and her stepfather. Her mother, Lattanzi says, is like, “I’m not quite leaving yet, I’m staying with you right now.”
“John and I were taking care of her together,” she says of the time they spent with Newton-John in her last days. “We have such a strong connection, and it makes my heart hurt for him. He’s like my other dad. I will always be the person he can lean on.”
As co-leaders of the 10th walk to support the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre, which offers both traditional cancer treatments and research as well as holistic wellness support like oncological massages, acupuncture, and music therapy, the two will be working closely together.
She says of her plans for patient services like IV drips of vitamins and minerals and maybe even a bar where they can buy herbal remedies, “I really want to make the wellness center bigger and offer more.” She adds, “Because of these healing properties, my mom lived a lot longer than most people thought she would.”
Still, Lattanzi says that the star died too soon, and her sadness is strong.
“Grief is a roller coaster for anyone who has been through it,” says Lattanzi. “It’s like being in the ocean when everything is still and quiet and then a big wave comes and knocks you down. I think it’s good for me to do this work for her. If that makes any sense, it helps me not lose it because I’m keeping her dream alive.”
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