You could say Olivia Newton-John has been a bit busy lately. In April she walked 142 miles with a group of cancer survivors along the Great Wall of China, raising $2 million for her pet project, the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre. She was in Australia in September, where she performed at a second fundraiser, Olivia Newton-John and Friends. She spent October travelling the U.S to promote Liv Aid, a breast self-exam kit. She’s also a hands-on business partner in her husband’s venture, the Amazon Herb Company, making regular trips with him to the Amazon to educate people there about the benefits of the plants. And she’s also mother to 22-year-old Chloe, an actress and television host.

Activist, businesswoman and go-getter: all apply when it comes to Olivia, even though she defies being defined by labels. “I don’t ‘categorize’ myself,” the four-time Grammy winner says with a laugh, while sipping tea and eating a cookie at her home in Malibu, CA. “I am who I am and do what I can and try to give back as much as I can because I’ve been given so much.”

Ulli Lasenger, her business partner in Liv Aid, says what she loves about Olivia is that she’s someone who never said why me when she was diagnosed with breast cancer 16 years ago. Instead, she said why not me. “I partnered with Olivia because of her global appeal and because breast cancer is a worldwide problem,” Lasenger explains. “The crucial thing about the disease is that it can happen to any woman. Twenty years ago everyone thought it was a genetic disease but today we know that less than 10% of those with breast cancer got it through genetics.”

Even though Olivia is a self-professed breast cancer thriver, it was a different story when she was first diagnosed and didn’t want to talk about it at all. In fact, the only reason she did was because she didn’t want her family finding out about it in the tabloids, she says. “Funnily enough, being able to talk about it actually became part of my healing process. I also realized there’s a relationship between your emotional body and your physical body,” Olivia says. “A friend gave me Louise Hay’s book You Can Heal Your Life, which talks about what emotions are linked to certain illnesses and I related to it. She became a big part of my healing. I just feel really comfortable being able to pass on these words: ‘I’m still here and you can be, too.’”

Since then Olivia has been a crusader for all things alternative and spiritual, joining the TV show Healing Quest on PBS as a co-host. It was her close friend Deepak Chopra—a guest host—who recommended that Olivia be part of the show. “I’m always learning about new things and I really respect how Healing Quest offers new information to the public about alternative therapies, things like acupuncture, yoga, massage; all things I wanted when I was going through my cancer treatment,” she says. Judy Brooks, the show’s producer and also a co-host, says Olivia was the natural choice for the show “because she’s someone who is truly connected to the material and walks the talk.”

The comfort Olivia found in alternative therapies when she had cancer is her reason for establishing the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre in Melbourne, Australia. The Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre Appeal is a fund-raising campaign that began in 2003. The Centre will replace the cancer wards at the Melbourne-based Austin Hospital and will also collaborate with the New York-based Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. In addition to traditional cancer therapies, the Centre will offer patients and their families support and cancer education programs, as well as complementary therapies focusing on meditation, relaxation, massage, art and music, nutrition, exercise and aromatherapy.

The appeal has so far raised $40 million but is looking to raise another $10 million. “My dream is to create a place for joy, laughter and peace, which helps your immune system,” Olivia says. “It wasn’t until I was recovering in the hospital that I really wanted peace; just to have someone massage my feet and have a cup of tea. And talk really helped me. I truly believe if your immune system is down and you’re stressed you have more chance of getting disease, so it’s important to control your stress level with some form of prayer and meditation that centers you and takes care of your spiritual body.”

In conjunction with current medical cancer treatments, Olivia added acupuncture, yoga, massage, homeopathy and herbs to her regimen and credits being lucky in surviving cancer with having a doctor who also practiced Eastern therapies. “He did both [Western and Eastern therapies], which made me feel really balanced. Like everything in life, I’ve learned it’s about ‘balance,’” she says. While not being fanatical about exercise, simply because being fanatical is something she learned to let go of, Olivia says she exercises as much as she can. She walks her dog for two miles every day, plays tennis when she can, goes hiking, works out at home with her treadmill and goes to the gym with her husband. “I’ve always been a healthy eater, and my favorite thing is to cook a big bowl of steamed vegetables for dinner at least twice a week. I like grilled foods, salads and I also like desserts. It’s really about balancing my food. I also take my husband’s herbs; he has a great digestive enzyme, which is a cleanser for the liver. It keeps me healthy.”

Other lifestyle changes brought about by her battle with cancer include having a newfound gratitude for simply being alive, which she says is part of the reason she has so much energy. “What got me through all the tough times was the deep faith that I was going to make it through the disease,” she says. “I focused on the big picture in life and felt that I needed to be here for a lot of reasons, like my daughter Chloe. I am lucky to be here. Just living every day is incredible; there’s a resilience deep down that you don’t realize you have until you go through something like this. But I also know the reason I survived it is because I detected it [cancer] early.”

In fact, because Olivia detected her own breast cancer through breast self-examination she’s heavily promoting Liv Aid. “If you wait a year for your doctor to do it and there is anything there, it’s going to get bigger. My dream is to empower women to take control of their bodies,“ she says. Liv Aid was launched through the international fitness franchise Curves. Olivia’s aim is to distribute 1 million Liv Aid products worldwide. She’s also partnered with the organization to raise funds for cancer and for her hospital, such as through the Great Walk to Beijing.

Four years in the making, it wasn’t until two months after the walk that Olivia could even verbalize her experience in completing the Great Walk. “I liken it to the cancer journey because you have to push yourself beyond what you think your limits are,” she says. Approximately 60 people joined Olivia in the walk, including cancer survivors, athletes and entertainers, who all received sponsorship from people in the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Japan, China and Australia.

Two cancer survivors, Gordon Chan and Rhonda Martinez, both took part in the walk purely to raise funds for the hospital. Chan was diagnosed with testicular cancer at 49. “I likened [the walk] to the peaks and troughs I went through with cancer treatment, with the many ups and downs I experienced,” he says. “Like Olivia, I just had to look at one step at a time and not the thousands of steps in front of me.” “After my treatment for cancer, I felt I lost a lot of my energy and enthusiasm,” says, Martinez, a breast cancer survivor. “I wanted to walk to raise money for the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre Appeal to show there’s life after cancer, and to prove to myself as well that I could do it!”

Doing the walk also reinforced the high points of Olivia’s breast cancer work, which is about meeting women who have battled cancer or who are currently going through it. “The lessons I’ve learned are empathy, strength and how amazing the bond is between women,” Olivia says. “We need each other.” If there is any fear about the cancer coming back she doesn’t want to think about it. “I don’t live the fear,” Olivia says. “I think fear can be a really debilitating thing; I check myself, I go to the doctor and have yearly mammograms. For the first few years I saw my oncologist every six months and now I go every year for a mammogram.”

Having just celebrated her 60th birthday in September, Olivia laughs like a schoolgirl and says life “just begins” when you turn 60. Her enthusiasm is perhaps in part due to her second marriage, this year to businessman John Easterling, as “the best thing I ever did,” she says. “I’ve found someone who is my soul mate, companion and life partner: It’s all of this and more.” “My life is on a wonderful path, and it’s flowing beautifully,” Olivia says. “I feel very fortunate to reach 60; I am the healthiest and the happiest I’ve ever been.”

About the Author: Georgia Cassimatis a freelance writer who lives in Los Angeles, CA.