John Travolta, Olivia’s opponent in Grease, speaks on Instagram about the “incredible impact” she left behind. “My dear Olivia, you made all our lives so much better. Your impact was unbelievable,” Travolta writes with an old photo of Newton-Jonn. “I love you so much. We will see each other again and all be together again. Yours from the first moment I saw you, forever! Your Danny, your John,” the actor concludes.
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Robin Roberts, host of the American morning show Good Morning America, shared her condolences in her Instastories. Robin was diagnosed with breast cancer, just like the deceased Olivia. “Very sad news,” she writes. “Great admiration for how bravely she fought breast cancer. Condolences to her loving family and friends.”
Actress Barbra Streisand writes on Instagram that Olivia is ‘too young to leave this world’.
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“We have lost a great, iconic artist in Olivia Newton John, who left us too soon,” writes Star Trekactor George Takei on Twitter.
Also Dutch celebrities sad
Several well-known Dutch people reacted sadly on social media on Monday evening. “There is no more childhood idol!” tweets dj Erik de Zwart, who cherishes warm memories of Olivia. “I met her once and was allowed to interview in Ahoy. A legend.”
Other prominent figures also speak of a youth idol. “So many childhood memories. Died far too young,” writes actor Jon van Eerd. “I was madly in love with Olivia Newton-John from Grease,” shares fellow actor Diederik Ebbinge. “To the shy poop girl then. When at the end she appeared tight in leather and curled up at that fair, the fun was completely gone for me”, he adds with a joke.
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Dj Jeroen van Inkel and presenter Jan de Hoop call the death of the British-Australian ‘much too early’. “What a drama. Much too young,” said the NPO Radio 2 jock. “Truly a pity and sad,” said the former RTL Breakfast news reader. “A beautiful person Olivia is leaving us way too soon.”
Bettina Holwerda, who played the role of Sandy in the Dutch version of the musical in 2008 Grease, shares a photo of Newton-John on Instagram. “The one and only Sandy. What an example, what a star,” she wrote. Her husband Jim Bakkum, who played her opponent Danny in the play, writes: “Forever Sandy. RIP Olivia Newton John.”