The presence of some people endures even after they die. In the case of Olivia Newton-John, her family believes this is literally true. She is visiting them from the other side–manifesting as a blue orb that appears in photos.
Last August, Olivia Newton-John died of cancer at 73. “Two weeks after she passed my phone accidentally took a picture of my dog, and there floating by his head was a little blue orb, the same color as this,” her daughter Chloe Lattanzi, 37, says touching an aquamarine pendant necklace her stepdad, John Easterling, 71, had once given her mom, who then gifted it to her before she died last August.
As PEOPLE reported in an exclusive story, according to Chloe, Olivia had made a promise to her to come back after her death, and her family members firmly believe she is keeping that vow. “Mom and I had talked years back. We’d watch these paranormal shows, and I’d say, ‘You gotta show up for me.’ And she was like, ‘I’ll show up as one of those orb things.’ ”
Easterling claims to have had similar encounters. Two months ago, he visited Peru with his wife’s ashes to hold a private ceremony at the spot where they said “I do,” commemorating what would have been their 15th wedding anniversary. “I took a picture, and this blue orb is right between my eyes,” he says, showing off the image on his phone. “It’s been a supernatural year.”
On Aug. 8, 2022, Newton-John died peacefully at her home in Santa Ynez, California, after a 30-year battle with breast cancer. (First diagnosed with the disease in 1992, she privately faced a recurrence in 2013 before publicly revealing the cancer had metastasized to her sacrum in 2017.)
Over the past year her family has organized numerous commemoration and memorial ceremonies to honor her memory. First with a private service for family and close friends in California, followed by a star-studded state funeral in her home country of Australia in February.
In October they’ll lead her annual Olivia’s Walk for Wellness in Melbourne to raise funds for the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre along with lifesaving cancer research with her Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund currently testing the efficacy of medicinal plants for cancer treatment.
“It’s an honor,” Lattanzi says of continuing her mom’s advocacy and gearing up to lead this year’s walk alongside Easterling. “I know it’s going to be really hard emotionally, but I’m excited to do this for her.” Adds Easterling: “I have to stop and just be grateful. She wants us to live life and love life and never lose sight of the good things.”
In her final days, as Olivia Newton-John’s condition declined, she remained optimistic and upbeat.
“She loved her spot outside her bedroom to watch the birds,” says Lattanzi, who cared for her mother in her last days. “We wanted to get her home to the animals, to the birds.”
Lattanzi, who recorded the 2021 duet “Window in the Wall” with Newton-John, says, “I know she’s wrapping her wings around me, and I believe in myself now. We feel her every single day.” And apparently, they also believe they see her presence occasionally–as a blue orb.
