Critics pan Rebel Wilson's new comedy Super Fun Night, Aussie funny woman defends 'fat jokes'

Rebel Wilson in a scene from upcoming comedy Super Fun Night. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied

 

 

News.com.au reports

It’s been a rough week for Rebel Wilson.

Even before its premiere, US television critics have panned the pilot for her new comedy, Super Fun Night, saying it falls "wide of the mark" and is "rarely outright funny."

"Super fright night is more like it. This show is so painful and cringe-inducing that it's scary," one critic even wrote.

But in true Rebel form, the Aussie actress has bounced back from the criticism, insisting she has a licence to doll out 'fat jokes'.

"As long as I look like this I'm going to make fat jokes," she told Hunger magazine.

"All comedians have to use their physicality, so I use my size."

Earlier this year the 27-year-old was called out by Forbes magazine who accused her of overusing "fat women can be funny" jokes while hosting the MTV Movie Awards.

But despite receiving negative comments about her figure, the Pitch Perfect star hopes her look will inspire larger women to feel comfortable in their own skin.

"Before, it was all glamorous types like Kate Hudson who served as, like, the female equivalent of a 'straight man'. Now it's turning, and it's really good," she said.

Wilson is gearing up to debut Super Fun Night on October 2, in which she plays a socially inept single woman who sets aside Friday nights to stay at home and hang with her pyjama-clad besties.

She argues that she wanted her character Kimmie to wear unflattering clothing.

"In the pilot, I was deliberately wearing a very tight white dress with horrible crisscross black stripes that is way too short, and I'm holding a clutch purse that is so tiny that it accentuates my size," she told vulture.com.

"The women from wardrobe are lovely, but they don't get that I want to dress as Kimmie, and Kimmie does not have the best taste. The girls in the show are at the bottom of the social pole, and it's hard to communicate that to the network. It's important they understand that comedy is not about looking good."

Wilson had her breakthrough role in 2011 comedy Bridesmaids playing the sister of British comedian Matt Lucas. Since then she has gone on to star in other comedies such as Pitch Perfect, in which her character was referred to as 'Fat Amy'.

Nicole Kidman to play the villian in Paddington Bear film; Colin Firth to voice Paddington

Nicole Kidman attends the Calvin Klein show during New York Fashion Show this week. Kidman will play an evil taxidermist in an upcoming film about beloved British children's book character Paddington Bear. Picture: Getty Source: Getty Images

 

The Daily Telegraph reports

Nicole Kidman will play the villain in a new movie about marmalade-loving children's character Paddington Bear - to be voiced by Oscar-winning British actor Colin Firth.

Firth, who won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Britain's stuttering king George VI in The King's Speech, has told British newspaper Daily Mail that the Peruvian bear would be computer-generated, with the rest of the characters played by real actors including Kidman.

"Paddington will be computer-generated, and I will speak his lines with, I suspect, a slight Peruvian flavour,'' Firth told the Mail.

"Every other character in the film will be real, live human beings.

"But the idea is that Paddington will have something of me in his DNA because I'm going to do some sessions wearing one of those helmets with cameras to capture my face muscles, and all that data will somehow be incorporated into Paddington.''

Kidman will play the villain in the movie spearheaded by David Heyman, the producer of the Harry Potter movies.

One of the best-loved characters of classic English children's literature, Paddington is known for his duffle-coat, battered suitcase and love of marmalade sandwiches. He is unfailingly polite, but has a knack for getting into trouble.

He first appeared in 1958 in Michael Bond's book A Bear Called Paddington, in which the Brown family find him sitting in London's Paddington train station, having made his way there from "darkest Peru''.

The family adopt the bear - who carries a sign reading Please Look After This Bear - and he goes on to have 20 books' worth of adventures.

Heyman had announced last year that he was teaming up with France-based film studio Studiocanal to update Paddington's adventures for the big screen.

Filming starts in September and it is due in cinemas in November 2014.

The movie will also feature Julie Walters and Jim Broadbent, both of whom worked with Heyman on the Harry Potter films.

Paul King, director of the British TV comedy series The Mighty Boosh, is to direct the film, according to the film trade magazine Screen Daily.

The Hollywood Reporter said Kidman would play "an evil taxidermist out for revenge''.
The stories have previously been adapted in cartoon form and using puppets.

Chris Hemsworth says he understands his brother Liam's life in the spotlight

Actors Liam, Chris and Luke Hemsworth attend the Rush premiere during the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. Source: Getty Images

 

James Wigney, News Limited Network, reports

Chris Hemsworth says he has his brother Liam's back as he deals with his breakup from singer Miley Cyrus.

The Aussie star said in an interview with News Corp Australia this morning he understands what his younger sibling is going through in dealing with the spotlight after the two became famous around the same time.

Chris became an instant superstar in 2011 playing superhero Thor, which made more than $450 million at the box office, and Liam followed less than a year later when the Hunger Games raked in $700 million worldwide.

"The two of us started going through this at the same time and if there is someone who has had a similar experience - especially if it's your brother - and then that's a real bonus," said Chris, currently starring as hard-living racing champion James Hunt in the F1 movie, Rush.

"You can also call each other's bluff a bit. If one starts to drift off in the wrong direction then you don't need to say 'I don't know what you are talking about' because I understand that as well. We have both been through it. There is a way of staying grounded - it's all about your friends and family and we have been lucky to have had that."

Liam attended the Toronto and London premieres of Rush earlier in the month in the aftermath of his then-fiance Cyrus's controversial performance at the VMA Awards.

The pair this week confirmed the end of their three-year relationship which began when they met on the set of the 2009 drama The Last Song.

Liam was recently seen kissing rumoured new flame Eiza Gonzalez, but Chris declined to comment on his brother's state of mind post-breakup.

"I avoid trying to comment on his personal details because it can get a bit misconstrued," he said. "So you will have to ask him."

Raise a glass, Newton-John clinic opens

Olivia Newton-John has opened the final stage of her Cancer and Wellness Centre in Melbourne. Source: AAP

 

 

 The Daily Telegraph reports

Olivia Newton-John says her completed cancer centre in Melbourne should be a place where everybody knows your name, and has a drink waiting for you too - if that's what you want.

Newton-John recently lost her sister to cancer and says the experience taught her how important "loving care and support" is for someone who is dying.

On Friday, after a decade in the making, budget shortfalls and many fundraising campaigns, the star finally opened the final stage of the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre in the city's north.

The opening brings online more palliative care beds, more treatment beds and additional research laboratories.

But the cancer survivor says the centre needs to also be about enabling patients to be surrounded by people who know them and care about them.

"(People who) give you all the food you want, that give you a vodka if you want one," she said.

Newton-John said the marriage of the words "cancer" and "wellness" are important too.

"When you see that you think, 'I can go from cancer to wellness,'" she said.

Her big dream is that, one day, she can erase "cancer" from the centre's logo.

"It will be a wellness centre only because we'll find a cure for cancer."

Jessica Mauboy flies out for big Emmy's Governor's Ball gig in front of TV heavyweights and Hollywood A-list

Jessica Mauboy at the Thomas Kelly Foundation fundraising dinner at The Star in Pyrmont. Picture: Richard Dobson Source: News Limited

 

 

Maria Lewis, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Jessica Mauboy is flying out of Australia today ahead of a prestigious gig performing at the Emmy's Governor's Ball on Sunday.

The 24-year will perform in front of some of Hollywood's biggest names, include TV executives and A-list actors.

It's the second time The Sapphires actress has performed at the official after-event party, wowing audiences at the 2012 shindig after impressing them at the G'Day USA Event (which is run by the same organisers).

Mauboy, fresh off her wins for Female Artist of the Year and Single Release of the Year for Something's Got A Hold on Me at the Deadly Awards, has been tipped for big things in the states after heavy hitters the Weinstein brothers backed the Australian musical last year.

Oprah and Simon Cowell have also spoken out as some of her biggest fans.

Mauboy warmed up for her big US gig with an appearance at a fundraiser for the Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation at The Star in Pyrmont last night.

The singer is an ambassador for the foundation which was hosting its first event last night after being founded in July 2012 following the young man's death in Kings Cross.

The foundation’s website says the funds it raises will assist it in helping make our streets safer and preventing alcohol-fuelled violence in our community.

Stars like Ronan Keating and Laura Dundovic hit the blue carpet for Diana premiere but leading lady Naomi Watts fails to show

Storm Uechtritz and Ronan Keating arrive at the Australian premiere of Diana. Picture: Getty Images

Briana Domjen, The Daily Telegraph, reports

There was one noticeable absence at the Australian premiere of Diana last night - homegrown leading lady Naomi Watts.

Those who did turn up to Event Cinemas on George Street for the film were Ronan Keating and his girlfriend Storm Uechtritz, Laura Dundovic and X Factor contestants Cat Vas and Barry Southgate.

The film, which is about the final two years of the Princess's life, her secret romance with Pakistani heart surgeon Hasnat Khan and its demise just weeks before her death in 1997, has received mixed reviews since its launch.

However Watts is crossing her fingers that it scores two thumbs up from Diana's sons.

"Hopefully if they get to see the film, they will feel that we have done it in a respectful and sensitive way," Watts told BBC TV.

"We try to honour the depiction of her character in the best possible way.''

Diana is out October 10.

Aussie director James Wan scares up a record-breaking weekend in the US with Insidious 2

Rose Byrne returns for horror sequel Insidious: Chapter 2 Source: Supplied

 

Vicky Roach, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Insidious: Chapter 2 topped the US box office over the weekend, earning Australian director James Wan a place in the history books.

Opening on Friday the 13th, the horror sequel took an impressive $US41 million, scaring the pants off its nearest competitor (The Family, with Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer, with an estimated tally of $US15 million).

Wan's The Conjuring also upset industry expectations when it took $US41.9 million in its July opening weekend.

This makes the Saw co-creator only the second director ever to have two films opening with more than $US40 million in the same year, according to the respected US site Box Office Mojo.

The Wachowski brothers managed a similar feat in 2003 with The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, but there were two of them.

Starring Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson, Insidious 2 tripled its 2010 predecessor's $US13.3 million opening.

The horror sequel, which reportedly had a budget of $US5 million, releases in Australia on November 7.

Wan is currently in Atlanta filming Fast and Furious 7, the next instalment in the hugely successful high-octane action franchise staring Vin Diesel and Jason Statham.

He and Saw co-creator Leigh Whannell attended RMIT together in Melbourne.

The long-time collaborators (Whannell wrote the screenplay for Insidious 2) initially tried to make their breakthrough 2004 film in Australia.

"We really gave it a shot - we spent a year to two years trying to get financing for Saw in Australia and we just couldn't get it off the ground,'' he recalled in an interview with News Corp Australia in July.

The low-budget horror film went on to spawn a hugely successful franchise that has more than $US873 million at the box office worldwide.

Malaysian-born Wan admits to having a healthy respect for the supernatural.

"I was raised with a pretty strict Christian upbringing but coming from an Asian background as well I grew up with a lot of ghost stories and superstition. So from a very young age I was subjected to this world and very much fascinated by it."

Whannell recently collaborated with Angus Samson on Australian crime thriller The Mule, starring Hugo Weaving,

Wan told News Corp Australia that he, too, was keen to return to Australia to work.

"I would love to take a project back to Melbourne. All my family is in Perth so they have been wanting me to shoot something in Western Australia.

"I have been talking to Vin Diesel quite a bit recently and we were talking about Coober Pedy where he shot Pitch Black."

Cate Blanchett's conspiracy thriller Blackbird moves to the US after director David Mamet location scouted in Sydney

Cate Blanchett arrives at the Blue Jasmine premier in Deauville, France. Picture: Getty Source: Getty Images

 

Vicky Roach, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Cate Blanchett's JFK conspiracy thriller Blackbird, due to start filming in Australia in January, has moved offshore.

Writer-director David Mamet, who visited Sydney last week to scout locations, has decided to relocate the shoot to the US, according to Inside Film magazine.

The news comes just weeks after Blanchett confirmed the project had been green lit.

"We've been talking for a couple of years about doing this, so I'm thrilled it's actually happening,'' she said in Sydney during an interview to promote the Woody Allen film Blue Jasmine, for which she is a hot favourite for an Oscar nomination.

"(Mamet) wouldn't be coming here if the crews weren't magnificent.''

Blanchett landed her first major stage role opposite Geoffrey Rush in the acclaimed 1992 Sydney Theatre production of Mamet's Oleanna, for which she won a critics award for best newcomer.

Blackbird would have been the first feature the 44-year-old actor had shot in Australia since Cabramatta crime drama Little Fish, with Sam Neill and Hugo Weaving, in 2005.

The harbour city would have doubled as Los Angeles in the film.

Penned by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright-turned filmmaker, it's the story of woman who discovers some dark family secrets when she attends the funeral of her grandfather, a Hollywood visual effects artist who moonlighted for US special ops agencies

Two other high profile international projects, however, are still due to start filming in the coming months.

Angelina Jolie's drama Unbroken, starring Jack O'Connell as US Olympic athlete Louis Zamperini, rolls out on October 21, according to IF.

And the Kate Winslet and Judy Davis tragicomedy The Dressmaker begins production in rural Victoria early next year.

Set in the outback in the 1950s and billed as a gothic tale of love, hate and haute couture, it will be directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse (Proof).

Julian Assange pleaded with actor Benedict Cumberbatch to abandon his role in the WikiLeaks movie

Actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Daniel Bruhl in the Photo: Frank Connor ©DreamWorks II Distribution Co. Source: Supplied

 

 News.com.au reports

British actor Benedict Cumberbatch considered pulling out of his role in the upcoming WikiLeaks film after receiving a 10-page email from Julian Assange urging him not to make the movie.

The Star Trek Into Darkness actor plays Assange in new film The Fifth Estate, which tells the story of the Australian journalist and the whistleblowing website he founded.

However, Cumberbatch nearly walked away from the project after he was contacted by the man he was to portray just a day before the shoot was due to begin.

Cumberbatch reveals Assange wrote a "very considered, thorough, charming and intelligent account of why he thought this was morally wrong for me to be part of something he thought was going to be damaging in real terms - not just to perceptions but to the reality of the outcome for himself".

The actor spoke about the email with Britain's The Guardian newspaper, admitting he considered quitting the film after reading the email.

"The fact that it was coming from the man himself, the day before we started filming? Of course I would hear and feel the protests of the man I was about to pretend to be. I'm a human being ...

"He (Assange) characterised himself as a political refugee, and with ... other supporters of WikiLeaks who have been detained or might be awaiting detention, and the organisation itself - all of that being under threat if I took part in this film."

Cumberbatch says he spent hours struggling to compose a reply after he decided to keep his job.

"I said (in my response) 'Listen, this film is going to explore what you achieved, what brought you to the world's attention, in a way that I think is nothing but positive. I admit to doing work because I'm a vain actor ... yet I'm not acting in a moral vacuum. I have considered this, and whatever happens I want to give as much complexity and understanding of you as I can'."

Assange has been living in the Ecuadorean embassy in London since 2012 as he battles extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted over allegations of sexual assault.

He fears it will pave the way for his transfer to the US over his website, which he used to publish thousands of classified military documents.

The Fifth Estate is due for release in Australia in November.

Joel Edgerton settles in director's chair

Actor Joel Edgerton / Picture: Charles Leonio/Getty Images Source: Getty Images

 

The Daily Telegraph reports

Joel Edgerton is set to make his directorial debut in the US, with a drama called Weirdo.

It will be produced by fellow Aussie Rebecca Yeldham and shoot in California next year, with Edgerton also set to play a supporting role in the drama.

The Australian filmmaker and actor has been gaining praise out of the Toronto International Film Festival where his second movie as a screenwriter - Felony - premiered.

After a series of critically acclaimed short films, he and brother Nash made their debut with crime thriller The Square in 2008.

Their film production collective Blue Tongue Films soon had a worldwide hit with Animal Kingdom and Edgerton teamed up with the director David Michod for his next film The Rover, which he co-wrote.

In the meantime, as one of six Australian films playing at TIFF, Felony has been receiving rave reviews on Twitter and from industry bibles.

The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney said it was "Directed with contained intensity and sharp character observation by Matthew Saville, the brooding thriller covers familiar territory but does so with sustained tension and psychological complexity".

While The Guardian's Paul MacInnes said the film was "smart enough to send us - and the film - in unexpected directions".

The crime drama stars Edgerton, Melissa George, Jai Courtney and Tom Wilkinson and follows a police conspiracy.

The Butler did it for Guy Sebastian's US success

Guy Sebastian / Picture supplied Foxtel/Mark Rogers Source: Supplied

 

 

 

Jonathon Moran, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Guy Sebastian is enjoying renewed success in the US thanks to Oprah Winfrey flick, The Butler.

His track, Battlescars, has just notched up one million sales - platinum - in America alone and is currently getting high rotation on US radio after being used in Winfrey's new film soundtrack.

"UI was sitting on my couch and The Butler came on and suddenly my song was playing," he told the Sydney Confidential on Nova with J. Mo and Elle radio show on the phone from Los Angeles last night.

"And I keep hearing it on radio over here. I'm used to hearing my songs on the r4adio in Australia but definitely not over here so it is really cool."
Battlescars is a collaboration with American Grammy Award winner Lupe Fiasco the pair recorded at Sebastian's Surry Hills studio.

Sebastian, 31, will return home to Sydney for the annual Nickelodeon Slimefest event at Olympic Park Sports Centre on September 27. And he's recorded a new track for the occasion while he's been working on his next album in LA.

"I just wrote a song called Dare To Be Square for Nickelodeon's anti-bullying campaign just here in my little studio in LA," he said.

Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth officially split after earlier postponing wedding

Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth in happier times.

 

The New York Post reports

Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth have confirmed they have officially split.

Representatives for both Cyrus, 20, and Hemsworth, 23, confirmed today that the pair, who got engaged in May 2012, have called things off, the New York Post reports.

The Post reported last week that Hemsworth was seen kissing a brunette at the Toronto Film Festival. Witnesses saw him on a hotel rooftop, "locking lips with a random brunette". Later, "they left together".

Cyrus and Hemsworth, who got together on the set of 2010 movie The Last Song have had a rocky year, first deciding to postpone their wedding.

More recently, the couple have been barely seen together, and the Wrecking Ball singer's controversial MTV VMA performance with Robin Thicke in August was said to be a cause of more tension.

Her VMA performance was widely panned as tacky on social media with many saying her twerking against Thicke's crotch and lewd gestures went too far.

And over the weekend, Cyrus stopped following Hemsworth on Twitter.

Cyrus also recently appeared on German TV show Schlagg Den Raab where she spanked a twerking dwarf.

Her antics haven't gone unnoticed with Vogue editor Anna Wintour dropping her from the magazine's December issue over her "distasteful" VMA performance.

The dramatic departure from her clean-cut image seems to have caused issues closer to home for the young star.

"Liam really does care about Miley, but her racy new look and sort of ghetto attitude isn’t exactly what he signed up for," an unnamed friend of Hemsworth said last month.

The split comes as the singer's new video clip, which shows her getting up close and personal with a sledge hammer and also swinging naked on a large wrecking ball, continues to cause a stir.

Critics savage Diana, calling it atrocious and a 'car crash'

Naomi Watts in a production photo from the movie Diana. The script was 'embarrassing'.

 

Guy Jackson, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Critics have savaged Diana, a biopic of the late Princess of Wales, just hours after its world premiere.

Australian actress Naomi Watts, who plays Diana, has already defended her involvement in the controversial film, which follows the princess's romance with London-based Pakistani surgeon Hasnat Khan.

Within hours of the premiere, a string of merciless reviews in the British press shattered the party spirit.

The Times praised Watts for doing "her level best with a squirmingly embarrassing script'' but concluded that the film was still "atrocious and intrusive''.

"Poor Princess Diana,'' wrote Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw.

"I hesitate to use the term 'car crash cinema'. But the awful truth is that, 16 years after that terrible day in 1997, she has died another awful death.''

The Daily Telegraph gave the film two stars - one more than both The Guardian and The Times - but was also withering in its assessment.

"What's the point of Diana?'' reviewer David Gritten asked rhetorically.

Based on Kate Snell's 2001 book Diana: Her Last Love, the film suggests that Diana started dating Dodi Fayed, whom many friends of the princess say was her real love, to make Khan jealous.

That is a claim challenged by many close to the princess.

Diana and Fayed died when the Mercedes in which they were travelling slammed into a pillar in a Paris road tunnel in 1997 while being pursued by press photographers.

Diana and Prince Charles divorced in 1996 after 15 turbulent years of marriage which produced two sons, Princes William and Harry.

Watts, dressed in a figure-hugging white gown, was joined on the red carpet at London's Leicester Square by British-Indian actor Naveen Andrews, who plays her on-screen lover.

Asked if she felt the film would offend Diana's sons, she told BBC TV: "Hopefully if they get to see the film, they will feel that we have done it in a respectful and sensitive way.

"We try to honour the depiction of her character in the best possible way.''

I don't want to get fined: Hugh Jackman's frantic search for somewhere to vote

He's rarely ruffled, but Hugh Jackman was in a bit of a flap trying to find somewhere to vote while in Toronto promoting his new film. File image Source: Getty Images

 

 

Peter Mitchell, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Like a scene from one of his Hollywood action movies, a frantic Hugh Jackman has found himself in a race against time.

But he isn't trying to save the world.

He's just trying to vote in Australia's federal election.

The Sydney-born movie star, who was at the Toronto Film Festival on Friday afternoon (Saturday morning AEST) to promote his new thriller Prisoners, said he was frantically trying to find out if he could cast his ballot in the Canadian city.

"I have to find a place here to do it,'' a desperate, but smiling, Jackman told AAP.

"I missed the postal vote date.

"Do you know where to do it here?''

When it was suggested the Australian Consulate in Toronto could help, Jackman appeared relieved.

"I have to duck out to do it,'' Jackman said.

"Not only do I get fined, there will be an article about me getting fined.''

The fine wouldn't do too much damage to Jackman's bank balance, with the actor earning an estimated $A60 million last year from the Wolverine franchise and the hit musical Les Miserables.

It would also probably take a little more to tarnish his good guy image than a fine for not voting.

Jackman is expected to have a golden period early next year when the Oscar nominations are announced.

His performance in Prisoners, where he plays the father of a six-year-old daughter who is abducted, has been tipped to earn him one of the five best actor nominees.

Hollywood superstar Angela Jolie takes her children Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Vivienne and Knox to Taronga Zoo and Luna Park

Angelina Jolie and some of her kids take in the view from their hotel overlooking Sydney Harbour. Picture: Matrix Media Group Source: Supplied

  

Jonathon Moran, The Sunday Telegraph, reports

Angelina Jolie didn't waste a moment of her first full day in Sydney yesterday, starting with an early morning visit to the zoo.

The Hollywood superstar took her six children - Maddox, 12, Pax, 10, Zahara, 8, Shiloh, 7 and twins Vivienne and Knox, 5 - to Taronga Zoo before retiring to the Intercontinental Hotel for a rest. They then set out for some more sightseeing mid-afternoon, taking a boat across the harbour to Luna Park.

Jolie, 38, will spend the next four months based out of Sydney as she films her directorial effort, Unbroken, at Fox Studios and Village Roadshow on the Gold Coast.

She and her family will relocate over the next few days to a private home in Vaucluse.

Jolie and her brood arrived in Sydney early Friday morning on a Qantas flight from LA. Partner Brad Pitt is expected to visit during breaks in filming action drama Fury in the UK.

Unbroken is a story about Olympic track star Louis Zamperini, who crash-landed his fighter plane in the Pacific Ocean in 1943.

Australian extras are currently being cast, with British, Irish and American actors Jack O'Connell, Domhnall Gleeson and Finn Wittrock in the lead roles.

Olivia Newton-John talks about her battle with cancer that led her to change her life

Olivia Newton-John opens up about her cancer battle. Source: Supplied

 

Catherine Lambert, The Herald Sun, reports

We would forgive Olivia Newton-John if she was a bit unhinged. The woman we affectionately refer to as Australia’s sweetheart, or Our Liv, is one of the most famous and adored entertainers in the world.

But Newton-John’s life has been anything but smooth sailing, with tragedy and heartbreak hovering over her like a black cloud.

There has been bankruptcy (Koala Blue), divorce (Matt Lattanzi), her daughter Chloe’s eating disorder and cocaine addiction, the recent death of her sister from sudden brain cancer and her own much-publicised battle with breast cancer.

Not to mention the bizarre and still unexplained disappearance at sea of her former partner, Patrick McDermott, and, just two weeks, ago a man was found dead inside her house in Florida from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Pain, loss and misfortune have marked Newton-John’s life so deeply but if there are any scars they don’t show. Her blonde hair, blue eyes and generous smile may suggest fragility but the 64-year-old is incredibly resilient, even — perhaps especially — in the face of hardship.

She won’t be drawn on the tell-all interview Chloe gave to Woman’s Day last week about her battle with drugs and depression, which led to a stint in rehab.

Nor will she comment on the shooting at her Florida home.

What she will reflect on, however, is her solid belief in always looking forward.

“I really don’t believe on dwelling on anything negative," Newton-John says. “I remember the cancer enough to be aware to eat properly and exercise but the only thing I dwell on is being well. I like that: I dwell on being well."

She could be a poster girl for the self-help industry, returning time and again to her guiding philosophy to turn the negatives into positives, presenting as a woman with great faith, spirituality and compassion.

The fact that she has stuck with her commitment to help fund the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre at Heidelberg’s Austin Hospital for the past 10 years is proof of her dedication.

“Once I made the decision to do this, and the hospital committed to it, I stuck with it," she says.

“It was such a big dream and a huge commitment to take on because it’s very important to me. It’s so amazing that, finally, we’ve got there.

"It’s really exciting to have the wards open and we’ve expanded them to have all of these wellness programs in place."

With the final stage of the Wellness Centre opening at the Austin Hospital on September 20, Newton-John is still busy fundraising.

Next Sunday (September 15) she is leading a 4km Wellness Walk through the streets of Ivanhoe and will host an ONJ Grease-themed gala at the Regent Plaza on September 20.

The medical director of cancer services at Austin Health, Professor Johanthan Cebon, has worked closely with Newton-John over the past 10 years and described her commitment as tireless and boundless.

“What she has given is extraordinary because her contribution has been absolutely fundamental to the centre being built in the first place," Prof. Cebon says.

“And she didn’t just sign on to our terms. She made it clear she wanted something extra to what hospitals traditionally do. She insisted, as part of the package, that we incorporate the philosophy of wellness, which we haven’t seen in the Australian health care system before, so we’re really offering a new model. Wellness is about wellbeing in an emotional, physical, psychological and spiritual sense."

He believes that Newton-John sees the centre as the fulfilment of a dream that began when she survived her own experience with breast cancer more than 20 years ago.

Newton John agrees the centre completes the circle that began with a diagnosis in 1992.

“The cancer was a really important part of my life and I see it as a gift," she reflects.

“If I hadn’t gone through it, I wouldn’t have the compassion for people and I wouldn’t have understood what was important. It’s given me a real focus so that now I can say I’m grateful I had it, and particularly to have survived it."

People commonly recall a trauma every day of their lives, even when it has passed, and do everything they can to forget it, but Newton-John is different.

She rarely thinks about her own experience with cancer, choosing instead to focus on being well by doing something meditative every day, whether that be meditation, chanting with her Buddhist friends or praying with her Christian friends.

She has been vegetarian but has settled with favouring organic food as much as she can, a diet she calls “organicarian”.

On the suggestion of her husband, John Easterling, 61, who owns Amazon Herbs, she also takes vitamins and herbs daily.

The relationship began as a friendship and she believes they were always destined to be together.

“I think we were in different universes spinning in different orbits until we realised we had a lot in common," she says.

“We’re completely on the same path in our approach to life and health. He gave me herbs when I first met him and we’re still sharing that. He’s been a wonderful influence in my life and is a very healing person. I know I’m very fortunate."

Newton-John’s advocacy for animal rights, the environment and a healthy lifestyle has always been strong, beginning in childhood when her mother would take her on nature field trips to the beach, the mountains or even mushrooming.

She would always try to inform her, whether about fossils, flora or cloud formations but her affinity with nature became more prominent when she was discussing treatment options with her doctors when diagnosed with breast cancer.

Long committed to a healthy, drug-free lifestyle, she didn’t want to have chemotherapy and though she eventually agreed, she never had radiation. But she was also convinced that she had to do everything she could to rid her body of the cancer.

“I decided to make it a positive experience so I visualised the chemotherapy as a golden light, not a poison and to keep my spirit strong I did meditation, yoga, massage and acupuncture on the days when I was feeling really sick," she says.

“I switched to macrobiotic eating to clear up myself and these are things that I found to be very helpful. I also had a wonderful medical doctor who used herbs and homoeopathy.

“It’s important to be involved because it’s your body and you need to know what is happening. People say, ‘My doctor put me on to this,’ or ‘My doctor did that,’ so you don’t feel you’re partaking in your wellness.

“The point of that word is that it creates a nice positive energy that can lead you to being well. Cancer is not necessarily a death sentence."

Newton-John’s mental strength is expressed in such a mild, kind manner that it has a calming effect. She is not strident or bombastic in her views.

Her niece, Tottie Goldsmith, says she is exactly as she appears to be — feminine, savvy, smart, soft, strong — and agrees there has been a decent share of tragedy.

“She honestly has a very positive disposition and has an intense appreciation for everything in her life,"  Goldsmith says.

“She has an incredibly deep sense of compassion and feels things on a deep level but doesn’t wallow.

"Even though she misses my mum terribly and they were extremely close, she has turned that into a mission to do something for brain cancer and says that now she really knows what it’s like to lose someone to cancer."

Though Newton-John never talks about hardships or struggles, there is sadness and strain in her voice when talking about the death earlier this year of her beloved sister, Rona, 70, acknowledging that she will never be able to replace that relationship.

“I miss her terribly," she says. “She was a huge part of my life from the day I was born. She was like a mother to me. She used to travel with me and she was like my guardian. I laughed with her more than anyone in the world because she was such great fun and a great woman."

The experience, cancelling her engagements in Las Vegas to be by her sister’s side every day during palliative care, further strengthened her philosophical resolve.

Soon after Rona died, Newton-John created a brain tumour wellness program for the centre.

“The positive thing that came out of it was to receive some generous donations for the Wellness Centre and some more research into brain cancer," she says.

“What it also showed me is that being with people when they are passing is all there is. Just love and forgiveness. Stuff — possessions and money — doesn’t mean anything. It’s really only about the people you love and Rona had all her family around her. It was a beautiful thing.’’