Radio host Jackie ‘O’ Henderson couldn’t hold back her emotions on Tuesday’s episode of the Kyle And Jackie O Show as she discussed the death of her “idol” Olivia Newton-John.
WATCH: Jackie O cries over death of Olivia Newton-John
Following the sad news that the Grease icon had died at the age of 73 after battling cancer for a number of years, Jackie O wept on-air while paying tribute to the Australian singer.
“She literally was my idol growing up,” she revealed through tears.
“Every single day I would be in my bedroom and I’d dress up as her and I’d pretend I was her, and I Iived for her,” a visibly emotional Jackie O told Kyle Sandilands.
“I was watching a video of her – it was only two days ago – and I thought, ‘jeez it’ll be a sad day when Olivia Newton-John dies’. And here we are. It’s so upsetting.”
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She added, “She’s so beautiful, inside and out.
“She’s always been a wonderful ambassador for Australia and she does a lot for charity.”
Even Kyle had a fond memory to share about the Physical songstress, recalling a time Olivia once offered to give up her taxi to him when in Melbourne.
“[I said], “Oh no, you’d better get in it”, [while thinking] ‘You’ve got the cancer’. And she looked at me and said, ‘Thank you’,” he said.
It was an emotional morning as the news of the Xanadu star’s death broke around the world, with many celebrities and public figures breaking down over the news, including Today’s Richard Wilkins.
On Tuesday morning’s episode of Today, a teary Richard remembered his close friend, saying he felt “numb” upon hearing about her death.
“I was just sort of numb,” Wilkins told hosts Karl and Ally. “You know, all the dates and facts and figures and things just disappear and I just felt completely, just completely numb.
“I didn’t really know what to think.”
“I grew up listening in New Zealand on my little transistor radio. She was a beautiful, pure voice, she was a great singer,” he said.
“It is our loss. A world has lost a beautiful human being today. We kind of knew this day was coming, but hoped it would be a long way away.”
The famed reporter soon broke down as he remembered his dear friend.
“I didn’t want to do this,” he said on air as he began to shed a tear.
“It’s alright. It is the depth…There aren’t too many people you can do a Zoom with and feel it…She touched everyone, didn’t she? Even through a Zoom call, whether it was someone in a hospital, someone on the boardwalks of Hollywood who didn’t even know her that well, that depth of feeling.
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“This woman was extraordinary.”
Karl added, “You are encapsulating the pain everyone is feeling about Australia.”
“This is so personal. I’m still numb,” Richard added.
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Richard and Jackie O weren’t the only stars to get teary this morning. Singer Vanessa Amorosi was forced to cut an interview with Sunrise short after she became overwhelmed with emotion upon discovering the news.
Originally appearing on the show to discuss her performance at the closing ceremony of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, hosts David Koch and Natalie Barr opened by asking the ‘Absolutely Everybody’ singer about her memories of Olivia.
“It is an incredibly sad day – Vanessa, what are your memories?” Barr asked as they crossed to the singer in Birmingham.
“I don’t know. I don’t particularly want to think about it, because I’ll get very emotional,” a distressed Amorosi began. “I just literally had one of the highest endorphins that just happened out there (at the closing ceremony), to being extremely sad coming offstage and checking my phone. I don’t think I’ve really processed it yet.”
Later in the interview, Barr brought the discussion back to the singer’s death, saying, “We know it’s a sad day for you and so many people, but we wanted to show this photo from quite a few years ago of you, Olivia Newton-John and Tina Arena,” as a photo of the trio at the Sydney 2000 Olympics appeared on screen.
“Both of these women I have looked up to since (I was) a kid … I don’t know. I’m actually very sad about Olivia, to be honest. It’s..” Vanessa replied before it became too much for her to finish and she signalled to cut the inteview.
“So horrible. I feel for her, after coming off that,” Barr noted as the cross ended.
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