Almost 16 years after Olivia Newton-John’s partner, Patrick McDermott, went missing, a brand-new family memoir is set to blow the lid off his chilling disappearance.
WATCH: ONJ speaks out about John Travolta’s wife Kelly’s cancer battle
Patrick, who vanished from a fishing boat in 2005, has never been found, with much speculation that the Hollywood cameraman faked his own demise to escape financial ruin and unpaid child support.
Even though she moved on and married John Easterling, sources tell New Idea that Olivia, 72, is “still tormented by the unknowns.”
Thankfully, the singer has found solace in a friendship born from the tragedy, remaining close with Patrick’s ex-wife, Yvette Nipar, and adult son, musician Chance Taylor.
Now, New Idea can reveal that Yvette, 56, is currently penning a memoir about the tragedy, with the title What Are The Chances.
In a never-before-seen photo of Patrick and Chance shared to a Facebook page promoting her upcoming book, Yvette writes: “I could never have imagined what… discovering my son’s dad was missing would do to my insides as a mom. It’s been a long and brutal road, but we are still standing.”
She also shared a picture of 28-year-old Chance – who has followed his dad’s footsteps into showbiz as a musical composer – with one of the investigators into Patrick’s disappearance.
Sources tell New Idea that Yvette’s book is being written with the blessing, and perhaps even the help, of Olivia.
“They are bonded forever over their grief,” says the insider. “They weren’t close until Patrick’s disappearance. He kept Yvette and Chance quite separate to his newer relationship with Olivia.”
On June 30, 2005, Patrick, then 48, was a passenger on the fishing charter Freedom, which left LA’s San Pedro marina for an overnight trip to San Clemente Island, roughly 94km away.
The vessel returned the next day, but Patrick’s disappearance wasn’t noticed until a week later when he failed to appear for a visitation with Chance, then 13.
In a 2016 interview with 60 Minutes, Olivia said: “He was lost at sea and nobody really knows what happened. It’s human to wonder, but … you have to accept and let go.”
Yvette agrees that Patrick is dead. Yet, several American investigators believe otherwise. One in particular, Philip Klein, a private investigator employed by US TV show Dateline NBC, tracked alleged sightings of Olivia’s missing ex in Mexico and South America.
It was reported that Patrick was alive and well, and was requesting to be left alone.
The only documentation provided by Philip that could have proved Patrick’s existence was alleged communication with a “representative” of Patrick.
Dead or alive, Yvette’s book will hopefully provide some closure for herself, Chance and Olivia.
As she puts it: “[This is] a memoir that’s been screaming to ‘get out of me’ for many years now – so I decided to put it all out there.”
