In August 2005, seven weeks after Olivia Newton-John's long-term partner Patrick McDermott vanished off the coast of , the Grease legend raised eyebrows by releasing a short statement referring to him merely as a 'friend.'
Showbiz
Olivia Newton-Johns Complex Love with Patrick McDermott
In August 2005, seven weeks after Olivia Newton-John's long-term partner Patrick McDermott vanished off the coast of California, the Grease legend raised eyebro...
Advertisement
The star's stiff, remote tone came as a shock, given the couple had reportedly been dating for almost a decade and McDermott was widely regarded as the love of Newton-John's life.
Now, a new biography about the Australian singer and actress reveals the truth about the pair's partnership, with the insiders admitting they had an unconventional arrangement and went long periods without regular contact.
In A Little More Love: The Life and Legacy of , released Thursday, author Matthew Hild writes that the couple were on-again, off-again for nine years.
One friend, record producer Chong Lim, told Hild that Newton-John confessed to him that there were 'problems' in the relationship.
While Lim did not disclose specifics, a fiercely independent Newton-John appeared averse to marrying McDermott, who disliked Hollywood and shunned the spotlight.
Advertisement
'Olivia and Patrick did not have a traditional relationship,' journalist Gerard Wright is quoted as saying in the new tome.
Another anonymous journalist declared that the pair were not in 'constant contact like a lot of other couples.'
At the time of McDermott's mysterious disappearance in 2005, he and Newton-John were separated.
Author Matthew Hild has pulled back the curtain on Olivia Newton-John's relationship with Patrick McDermott in his new biography, A Little More Love: The Life And Legacy Of Olivia Newton-John (Newton-John and McDermott are pictured in 2001 in LA)
'They had recently agreed that they were "off-again,"' Hild writes, 'although she [Newton-John] hadn't made any final decision to break up with him [permanently].'
After McDermott failed to return from a fishing trip, it was determined by the US Coast Guard that he had 'most likely' drowned, despite rumors he had faked his own death and had relocated to Mexico.
There were reports that McDermott was heartbroken over his latest romantic woes with Newton-John.
Newton-John, who died in 2022 at the age of 73, never received closure when it came to her longtime beau's death, although a pal claims she was adamant that he didn't deliberately disappear.
'She thought he’d been killed,' Newton-John's friend, classical guitarist Liona Boyd, tells Hild in the new book. 'She thought he drowned.'
Advertisement
McDermott pictured with Newton John and her daughter Chloe in 2001
McDermott and Newton-John are pictured in 2005 before his disappearance. The pair had an on-off relationship for nine years, but had split again shortly before McDermott vanished
Sometime within the next year, Newton-John and McDermott would end their relationship again. However, the new book claims the Xanadu star hadn't yet decided if she would end things for good.
Then, in June 2005, McDermott vanished.
McDermott had gone on an overnight fishing trip that departed from Los Angeles with 22 passengers and crew members aboard. He booked the trip solo and did not know anyone else on board the vessel.
Advertisement
An investigation by the US Coast Guard later determined that the ship's crew had failed to keep a written record of all the passengers who had disembarked after the trip, a potential violation of regulations that requires strict documentation.
McDermott's car was discovered still parked near where the boat had cast off, and multiple personal belongings of his were found on the ship, including his cell phone, wallet, and fishing equipment, but McDermott's absence wasn't noticed until several days later, when he failed to show up to a family event on July 6.
It wasn't until July 11 that he was reported as a missing person to police after family members were unable to track him down.
At the time of his disappearance, Newton-John was in Melbourne, Australia.
She released a public statement on August 22, saying: 'I am hopeful that my treasured friend is safe and well and I am grateful to the officials who are working so hard to find Patrick, whom I love very much.'
An investigation by the US Coast Guard later determined McDermott had likely been lost at sea. It also found that the ship's crew failed to keep a written record of everyone who disembarked (Newton-John and McDermott are seen in January 2005, five months before he disappeared)
Newton-John eventually decided to talk about McDermott's disappearance during an interview with CNN's Showbiz Tonight.
'It's a really painful topic,' she told them in October 2005. 'And it's still under investigation. And I'm just - I love him very much, and as you can imagine, this is an incredibly hard thing to go through.'
'I was just kind of frozen. And you know, life, you have to move forward a little bit. It was one of the reasons that I decided to sing again. I didn't think I was going to sing again, and I had to move forward,' she said.
According to the new book, weekly tap-dance lessons offered Newton-John an escape from the tumult.
'I think it was a getaway for her. It was an hour she could get away and, you know, take her mind off of all that s**t,' dance instructor Joe Giamalva recalls in the biography.
Newton-John later become close to McDermott's ex-wife, actress Yvette Nipar, and their son.
The Coast Guard investigation was closed in September 2006, and its report concluded that it 'did not find any evidence of criminal action, suicide, accident or hoax in the disappearance of McDermott.'
The report concluded that he had likely drowned at sea.
However, rumors persisted that McDermott was alive and well.
McDermott shared a young son with his ex-wife, the actress Yvette Nipar (R), whom Newton-John became friends with. Nipar begged for an end to rumors claiming her ex-husband had faked his death and fled to Mexico
In a 2009 Dateline special, investigators claiming that McDermott had fled the US alleged that he was living on a boat off the west coast of Mexico.
As evidence, they cited mounting debts he had been dealing with, including $8,000 in overdue child support payments.
McDermott had previously filed for bankruptcy in 2000 under the weight of $30,000 in debt, and investigators claimed his money troubles were a reason he had allegedly tried to start a new life.
They came to these conclusions after creating a website, FindPatrickMcDermott.com, and tracking IP addresses of visitors.
Repeat visits from Mexico allegedly led the investigators to believe that it was evidence that McDermott was alive and well and checking up on the website.
Despite claims from investigators that they had located McDermott in Mexico and had determined that he wanted to maintain his anonymity abroad, no proof was ever provided that he was still alive, much less living a secret life south of the border.
In an interview with 60 Minutes Australia from 2016, Newton-John said, 'I don't think I will ever really be at peace with [McDermott's disappearance]. I think there will always be a question mark.'
'He was lost at sea, and nobody really knows what happened,' she continued. 'It's human to wonder. Because whenever you go through difficult times, there's always those concerns.'
'Those are the things in life you have to accept and let go. Of course, questions always come up, and that's human,' Newton-John added. 'But you know, I live on.'
The late singer's personal theories on what happened to McDermott are finally coming to light; she's pictured in 2016 in NYC
At the time of McDermott's disappearance, Newton-John had already met John Easterling, a businessman and environmentalist.
However, the new book makes clear that the couple were not romantically involved at that time, and only fell in love later.
They wed in 2008, with Easterling a constant companion as Newton-John fought cancer.
In 2013, breast cancer that she had battled in the 1990s returned. In 2017, she announced that it has metastasized to her lower back. It subsequently spread to her bones, causing significant pain.
Easterling was by her side during her final days, and as she died at her California home in August 2022.
'Our love for each other transcends our understanding,' he said in a statement. 'Every day we expressed our gratitude for this love that could be so deep, so real, so natural. We never had to "work" on it.'
He added: 'We were in awe of this great mystery and accepted the experience of our love as past, present and forever.'
Advertisement
Advertisement