Olivia Newton-John Considered Marrying ‘Grease’ Costar John Travolta, New Biography Claims

A new biography is shedding fresh light on the romance that never was between Grease costars Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta.

According to the Daily Mail, which reported on the revelations Sunday, May 10, the actress seriously considered marrying him, only to be deterred by his Scientology faith.

In A Little More Love: The Life and Legacy of Olivia Newton-John, author Matthew Hild writes that the “Physical” singer and actress was so taken with Travolta, 72, during the filming of the 1978 musical that marriage crossed her mind. But more than two decades after the cameras stopped rolling, Newton-John privately sought answers about what such a union would actually require.

As detailed in the book, she approached a musician in her band who had been married to a Scientologist and asked a pointed question: “If I had married John, would he have expected me to become a Scientologist?”

The musician told her it wouldn’t have been mandatory but would have been encouraged, per the biography. Newton-John — who passed away in August 2022 at the age of 73 — reportedly replied simply, “Thank you. That’s all I want to know.”

Travolta converted to Scientology in 1975 and remains one of the religion’s most prominent members. While the church does not prohibit marriages between members and non-members, the faith has been cited as a factor in other high-profile Hollywood splits.

Both stars long maintained that the timing simply never aligned. In her 2019 memoir, Don’t Stop Believin’, Newton-John acknowledged the mutual attraction but wrote, “We would never date because we were both involved with other people at the time and both of us have a loyalty streak that runs deep.” Travolta echoed that sentiment in a passage he contributed to the same book, writing, “It almost happened between us a few times, but it didn’t. Sometimes life just offers you the wrong timing.”

Their Grease costar Didi Conn, 74, who played Frenchy, saw things a bit differently. Per the Daily Mail, Conn confirmed that Travolta’s feelings for Newton-John were unmistakable and recalled a moment from the film’s alternate ending kiss, saying, “They weren’t acting in that moment, it was like he had his chance and he was going to take it. It was real, it really was.”

Despite the what-ifs, the two forged a friendship that endured for decades, supporting each other through marriages, children and loss. Per the report, Travolta once reflected, “When you share that kind of meteoric success — and nothing has been able to exceed it — you share a bond.”

Newton-John was married twice. She wed actor Matt Lattanzi, 67, in 1984, and together they welcomed their only child, daughter Chloe Rose Lattanzi, now 40, before divorcing in 1995. In 2008, she married businessman and environmentalist John Easterling, 74, in an Incan spiritual ceremony in Peru.

Travolta was married to actress Kelly Preston from 1991 until her passing in July 2020 at the age of 57 following a two-year battle with breast cancer.

Together they shared three children: son Jett, who tragically died at the age of 16 in 2009 after suffering a seizure while the family was vacationing in the Bahamas; daughter Ella Bleu, now 26, who has followed her parents into the entertainment industry as an actress and singer; and youngest son Benjamin, now 15.