Hi there, my lovely listeners. In between my guest chats, you know how I love to jump
into your inbox and into your ears to have a chat about something that has been on my
mind. So my big question this week is, what is it about the news of a celebrity's death
that impacts us so much? Why I wanted to talk with you about that is because of the recent
death of Lisa Marie Presley. And for many of us, hearing that news was so shocking. It was so sad.
It is sad news to report Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter and only child of Elvis and Priscilla
Presley, once married to Michael Jackson, then Nicholas Cage has died.
We'd just seen her at the Golden Globes on the red carpet celebrating the success of
Baz Luhrmann's incredible film Elvis. And then to hear the news just a few days later
that she had died from a cardiac arrest was shocking. And so it made me think,
why do we have such an emotional response to the death of people who we don't know?
And we can feel very emotional about it, even though we don't have a personal relationship
with these people. They're not our family. They're not our friends, but we still love them.
But there can be an enormous sense of loss when we hear that a celebrity
has died. So it got me thinking about the people whose death has impacted on me. These are people
that are in the public eye. I don't know them, but they've had an impact on my life. And in a way,
when we get so emotional, I know for me, there's almost a part of me that feels
a little embarrassed about it. There's almost this childlike sense of, why am I feeling so
emotional? Why am I mourning a celebrity who I don't know? Logically, this doesn't make
a lot of sense to be attached to someone who I don't invite into my home, I don't chat with
on the phone. Why is it that they have such an impact on our lives? And it got me thinking about
why, that big question. And there's a mix of things. And one of the things that I considered
was there's a sense of nostalgia almost, that when a celebrity dies, we remember them when we
had that first connection with them. For example, I was a huge fan of Beverly Hills 90210. I had an
enormous crush on Luke Perry, who of course played Dylan in the series. And when I heard about his
death at the age of 52, which is the age I am now, I felt so sad. And I thought, why am I feeling
this way about an actor who I would watch once a week on the telly? This is breaking news just in
the last hour or so. The US actor Luke Perry has died just a few days after suffering a stroke.
And why I think I reacted the way I did was that there was this sense of the age I was at
when I was watching him, the sorts of things that I was experiencing in my life at that moment. And
in my mind, he was always this handsome, gorgeous young man. And it made me think, oh my goodness,
he's now died at the age of 52. That's my age. And it reminded me of my own mortality.
So I wonder if there is a part of that that impacts on us, that that is why the news of
a celebrity's death can have such an impact on us. Don't we also remember where we were
when we heard the news about someone in the public eye dying? Now, someone that comes to mind
instantly for me is Princess Diana. Here is someone who we loved. I loved her. I had seen
her from afar when she visited Australia many, many years ago. I think like a lot of women,
we had this connection with her. We felt like she understood us, that we knew her,
that we shared her pain when she'd share various sadnesses that were happening in her life.
She couldn't, though, be more far removed from my everyday life.
But I was heartbroken when I heard that she died. This is a newsflash from National Nine News.
Welcome to this special National Nine News update. And the news out of Paris on the condition of
Princess Diana is not good. She is now officially reported as dead, according to reports out of
Paris. And we will bring you a briefing in just a moment. Princess Diana died around 4 a.m. French
time, Paris time, about one hour ago. I remember I was sitting in my car. I just parked my car.
I was living in Coogee, which is a beach in Sydney's eastern suburbs. And I was parked
just near my unit. And I heard the news on the radio. And I couldn't get out of the car. I just
sat there and kept listening and thinking, no, this can't be true. Surely this isn't true.
I think because there's a sense that these people are immortal. We want them to live forever.
We put them on a pedestal. And part of that pedestal is this idea that, yes, they will
live forever. And so when someone like Princess Diana, who is so magical, beautiful, superhuman
in a way, when we hear that she died in a car accident, again, we're reminded, I think,
of our own mortality and thinking, if that can happen to someone as special as that,
what could happen to us or what does that mean for us? So it gets us thinking about those
sorts of issues. Another woman whose death had a real impact on me was Amy Winehouse. Here was a
young woman who at the age of 27 suddenly was no longer with us. And I think it was that sense of
this talent that she had that burnt so brightly. The songs that you would listen to, and I think
sound, music is so evocative and it can really bring you back to a time, a moment in your life.
So emotional. So when we hear that person singing that song, it brings us straight back there.
But when we hear that this remarkable talent, that this fragile, flawed woman is no longer with us,
it just adds even more to that sense of loss and that she was so young, that she had so much more
living to do. And I think another thing that is quite fascinating is how different people
will resonate with us more than others. Princess Diana, all of my girlfriends, all of us were so
upset by her death. My then boyfriend at the time, he couldn't understand why we were so upset,
why we were in tears and emotional and kept weeping when we would see more news stories
and pictures and the tributes. He was sort of gobsmacked over. You didn't know this person.
Why is it that you are feeling this way? And there seemed to be a bit of a divide, I think,
between women and men over the death of Princess Diana. And I don't want to be simplifying it or
generalising it, but that was my experience. And I remember trying to explain it to him.
And again, it made me feel a little, not shameful, but sort of a bit embarrassed that,
actually, why was I feeling this way? No, I didn't know her, but I felt an enormous emotional
connection to her. And I think for all of us, it's important that we don't give ourselves too
hard a time when we react to the death of someone who we don't know, but who we feel like we know,
who is a celebrity, because it's still a loss. And you only have to look on social media,
on Twitter, on Facebook, at all of the tributes that pour in for people. And then the response
and the exchanging of messages and photos and clips. And there's almost a sense of belonging
in that, that need to share and to capture how you're feeling and to connect with one another
in that. And to me, there's nothing shameful in that at all. Why is it that the news of a
celebrity's death impacts us so much? Again, it's because of that nostalgia, I think. It reminds us
of different times in our life. So it might have been our first crush, that poster of someone that
we had on the wall or whose music we listen to. And then we hear about their death and it's
not only mourning them, but it's mourning that past life that we had and who it is we've changed
into and who we've become. And maybe there's a part of us that we're missing, that innocence,
those memories of childhood. And that reminds me of how I felt
when I heard about the death of Olivia Newton-John.
Good evening. For 50 years, Olivia Newton-John dazzled us with her music and her natural warmth
and charm. For 30 years, she was also dealing with breast cancer. Her death at the age of 73
has brought great sadness to her family, friends and fans around the world, while also reminding
us of the great moments in her career, those songs so many of us will have been singing
and humming today. Now, I adored her and I first fell in love with Olivia Newton-John
when I saw her in Grease. I was young when that movie came out, so a lot of it went over my head,
but I remember looking at this beautiful woman on the big screen and just being so captivated by
her voice, by her big blue eyes, and of course, towards the end of the film, those black, tight
pants that I so wanted and of course was highly inappropriate for a nine-year-old,
as if my parents were ever going to buy me that. But I remember how I felt watching that movie,
and I remember it gave me this idea of the magic of the big screen, of escaping into another world
and connecting with this ethereal creature and seeing her transformation into this amazing
outfit and almost, I suppose, her growing confidence. And ever since then, I have just loved
Olivia Newton-John. Then she was in Xanadu and I remember doing roller disco shows for my family,
wearing sort of flowing rags. I so wanted boot roller skates, but my mum would never buy them
for me. I had the clip-on roller skates instead because it was far more sensible because my feet
were still growing. But I remember dancing around to Xanadu with my clip-on roller skates
in my sort of flowing raggy dress, zooming around, imagining yet again that I was Olivia Newton-John.
Then when her song, Physical, came out, my hair was short by this time, I would wear those sort
of the bandana around my forehead. And again, I didn't even get, I think, the sort of overt
sexuality of that song, but I still thought she was so fabulous. And so at all of those different
formative phases in my life, I connected with this woman. And then as she continued to shine on stage
with her beautiful songs, I remember with the opening of the Sydney Olympics, she and John Farnham
were there singing. And so she's been there for so many parts of my life and I'm sure for many
parts of your life too. And then she was also very open about her breast cancer and the difference
that she wanted to make for many women and men going through that and their families. So there
were so many connection points with her, so many touch points. So when we finally heard about her
death, there was this sense of disbelief because I had always thought she'd always be around.
And I had never met her, I had interviewed her through a screen, so that was pretty exciting
moment for me. But I was so upset when I heard that she died. And of course, I couldn't begin
to imagine the impact her death must have had on her family and her closest friends, but it had
such an impact on me. And I think as well, subconsciously, we had this sense that these
celebrities, because of what they do, we feel that they are immortal. They're not supposed to die.
They might be playing a role on screen. So we always see them as that role, as that character,
sort of frozen in time. So when we hear about their mortality, it's doubly shocking.
I remember reading the news when Heath Ledger died at the age of 28. And it happened while I was
on air reading the news bulletin at Channel 7. And I was so upset because he was this young man
at the peak of his professional career. And he's so handsome and so talented. And I loved watching
him on the screen. And he had that wonderful sort of deep Australian accent that I think is
just phenomenal, you know, a voice like Brian Brown. And to hear that this shining light
suddenly was no longer in the world broke my heart. And again, I'd never met him,
but it was such a loss because it was that sense of this potential that he still had.
He'd already given us so much with his performances. And there was still this sense
of so much that he could do. So if there is a part of you that is feeling very sad
about the news of a celebrity's death, whether it is Lisa Marie Presley or someone else,
don't give yourself a hard time about it. It's natural. We're human. We connect with one another.
We resonate with people. And there are some people that we resonate more with than others.
And because of the magic of celebrities, the magic that they have to move us through their
performances, whether it be on the big screen, the small screen, through music, through their art,
they move us in a way like no one else. And that is why we feel sadness when they're no longer with
us. I'm sending you all of my love, beautiful listeners. Do you know it brings me such joy
coming into your ears, popping into your ears every week. I'll be back next week with another
beautiful, big conversation with one of my guests. Until then, so much love.