INTRODUCTION

HER STORY

QUOTES

Claims her secret to looking so young is washing her face twice a day with a mild soap and always moisturizing.

Producer Allan Carr offered her the role of Sandy in Grease without her having to do a screen test, but she insisted on one, because being 29 she wanted to see if she could fool the cameras into thinking she was 18.

Was chosen to perform at the opening ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

The wood in her house comes from forests that have been awarded the Forest Stewardship Council Label. They have been independently certified to meet the highest standards for environmentally and socially responsible forestry.

In 1998 she was chosen by People Magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world.

In her eyes, Olivia hasn't just survived cancer. She's beaten it. "I don't like the term remission. I prefer to believe it's all in my past."

While recording her hit If Not For You Olivia's dog was in the studio with her and at one point knocked over a microphone stand. The noise is still evident in the song today.

Her current boyfriend Patrick McDermott is a cameraman and gaffer. She met him in L.A. while shooting a commercial.

In 1982 she helped create and finance Koala Blue, an L.A.-based Australian-style sportswear company. Through the '80s sales built to more than $14 million annually, with 49 stores opening on four continents. Then in 1991 the chain filed for bankruptcy. Olivia blamed the economic recession, but investors blamed her for poor management, late deliveries and shoddy merchandise.

She admits that in the past 20 years, hardly a week has gone by without someone mentioning Grease to her.

Olivia has always had a very strong following among gay men, but not as many women. However, her popularity with lesbians certainly picked up after she played the character of a white trash, ex-con, singing lesbian in the movie Sordid Lives.

Her biggest hit Physical sold over 2 million copies and spent 10 consecutive weeks at #1 on Billboard's Hot 100.

John Travolta and Olivia never became lovers off camera. She says the movie was a bit like high school itself: "We all had crushes on each other and when it came to John, I was no different than every other girl on that set."

In 1992 her 5-year-old goddaughter Colette Chuda died of Wilms' tumor, a rare children's cancer. The year after that, her father Brinley died of liver cancer. Two weeks later, doctors diagnosed Olivia with cancer in her right breast.