PictureLux/The Hollywood Archive/ Alamy Stock Photo/Supplied by Julien’s Auctions
On November 2, Olivia Newton-John is teaming with Julien’s Auctions to sell items from her long career — including the iconic black pants and leather jacket she wore as Sandy in Grease.
Olivia tells ABC Radio that, surprisingly, it wasn’t difficult to part with them. Since the money raised by the auction will go to Olivia’s Cancer Wellness & Research Centre, in her native Australia, she had no compunction about selling anything, including that outfit.
“I’ve worn them and that was another part of my life, and now it can go to good use and someone can enjoy them,” Olivia says. “I’m hoping it will end up in a museum somewhere so that people can see them in the future, but if not, a billionaire from China who wants it for his granddaughter…that’s fine too!”
But there’s a lot more on the block than just Grease items.
“I didn’t realize I had so much stuff!” Olivia says with a laugh. “I had stuff in storage at my house…I had stuff in storage in L.A. My assistant Dana…had scripts and books and things from TV shows…and clothing that I’d had on tour…so there was a lot of surprises that I had forgot about.”
When deciding what to keep and what to sell, Olivia would ask herself, “Can I let this go?”
“And every time the answer [was yes]…because it was going to be won by somebody who’d enjoy it and it would help my…Centre,” she explains. “So it was a win-win for me.”
But before she packed up Sandy’s pants, Olivia admits she tried them on one last time.
“I did, and I wasn’t going to tell anyone unless I could get in [them]!” she says, laughing. “But thank goodness, at least my legs got in there!”
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