Charlotte Foster
Family & Pets

Olivia Newton-John's husband shares sweet anecdote on her birthday

Olivia Newton-John's husband has shared a sweet anecdote about a holiday the couple took, on what would have been her 74th birthday. 

John Easterling took to the late entertainer's Instagram to share a rare glimpse of their married life, while sharing the previously unheard story of how the couple got caught in a dangerous storm while on a boating trip. 

Recalling the eventful trip, John wrote, "I remember the first birthday when we were together and I took Olivia on a week-long adventure in the Out Islands of the Bahamas surrounded by beautiful, peaceful, spectacular turquoise water."

"I rented a house on an island with no roads so we got a boat to go with your house and we would take our supplies over to the house which had a generator."

He described how they could boat across to another one of the many beautiful islands if they wanted to eat at a restaurant or explore, "just the two of us".

"It was private, it was wonderful," John recalled, but the weather turned one day when they took their little boat up to Great Guana Cay and the trip home was treacherous.

"The wind was howling and the boat was rolling and slamming into the waves, rain was stinging like someone throwing thumbtacks in your face," he wrote.

"Olivia got behind me holding on tight as I was navigating this 23-foot runabout with a centre console."

John explained how the couple only had a magnetic compass to navigate, and low visibility threatened their safe return. 

As they started to fear the worst, the storm suddenly disappeared and they were greeted with a magical scene through the clouds. 

"The rainbow started on the left and crystalized all the way over - horizon to horizon - and that's when the dolphins started jumping at the bow of the boat leading us under the rainbow."

It was a moment that has stuck with John ever since and he reminisced on how "Olivia looked at me like I was a superhero".

"We both recognized the fingerprints of the supernatural were all over this – and that's the way we lived our life," John added, signing off with "Happy birthday honey – I love you!"

John lost his soulmate in August when Olivia died at age 73 after a long battle with cancer. 

Image credits: Instagram

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family & pets, Olivia Newton-John, John Easterling, anecdote, tribute