For decades, the question followed them everywhere — on red carpets, in interviews, at every Grease anniversary.
Were Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta ever actually a real-life couple?
Both stars always insisted no. They had great chemistry, but the timing was wrong, they were just good friends, and nothing ever happened.
But a new biography is now raising eyebrows, with People reporting that they actually came very close to dating in real life.
Matthew Hild’s new Olivia Newton-John biography, A Little More Love, draws on archival interviews and conversations with friends and former colleagues to paint a picture of two people who nearly became something more.
Grease co-star Didi Conn, who played Frenchy in the 1978 film, told journalist Stephanie Nolasco that she believed Travolta had been genuinely attracted to Olivia — and that the chemistry between them on screen was the real thing.
Recalling an alternate ending that was filmed for the movie, featuring a particularly passionate kiss between Sandy and Danny, Conn said: “They weren’t acting at that moment… it was real, it really was.”
A former band member of Olivia’s, speaking anonymously, went even further. He told Hild the pair were “very, very close. Almost that close.”
However, John’s commitment to Scientology was allegedly the thing that stopped Olivia in her tracks. John converted in 1972 at the age of 21 and is still believed to be involved.
Decades after Grease was filmed, Olivia was said to have quietly asked a member of her band, who was previously married to a Scientologist, whether she would have been expected to convert if she had married John.
“It would not have been mandatory, but it would have been encouraged, put it that way,” they reportedly told her.
“Thank you,” Olivia is said to have replied. “That’s all I want to know.”
For his part, Travolta was famously cagey whenever the subject of him and Olivia dating was ever brought up.
When Joan Rivers once pushed him on the romance rumours, he shot back: “Of course it’s none of your business.”
Olivia was slightly more generous. “There was great chemistry,” she once said of meeting John on set. But both were in relationships at the time filming began — and whatever might have been, stayed that way.”
Olivia also opened up about the first time she and John met on set of the movie in her 2019 memoir Don’t Stop Believin’, writing that their chemistry was indisputable and everyone in the room could see it.
She wrote at the time, “When we walked inside the room together, it was magic, and everyone saw it.”
“I had great love and support from him and the feeling was mutual.”
She added, “Yes, we really liked each other and there was an attraction, but we would never date because we were both involved with other people at the time and both of us have a loyalty streak that runs deep.”
Olivia Newton-John passed away in August 2022, aged 73, following a long battle with breast cancer. When the news broke, John shared his heartbreak in an emotional tribute.
“My dearest Olivia, you made all of our lives so much better,” he wrote.
“Your impact was incredible. I love you so much. We will see you down the road and we will all be together again. Yours from the moment I saw you and forever! Your Danny, your John!”
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