It was "magic" to Jane Seymour that her best friend Olivia Newton-John devoted her last months to helping others while she was "frail" herself.
EXCLUSIVE: Remembering Olivia Newton-John - Her family, Dolly Parton, Sir Cliff and more share memories
The actress joins Dolly Parton and Sir Cliff among Olivia's friends who have shared special memories of the late star in our Breast Cancer Awareness Month digital issue. Olivia died aged 73 at her ranch in California, 30 years after her initial breast cancer diagnosis, sparking an outpouring of love from all corners of the world.
Her story gave people hope and Olivia went to great lengths to help others, that is something her best friend Jane revealed she admired about her.
"That was magic to me. That Olivia was passing on her love and her wisdom and her compassion," she told HELLO! in memory of her friend.
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"I personally know that even at the end she went out of her way to help people that she knew who were going through cancer. Even though she was incredibly frail herself. She would actually spend a lot of time, effort and thought and actually pick up the phone and speak to people we both knew who were going through the battle."
Celebrating her friend, Jane praised Olivia for making a "huge difference in the world" as well as being an inspiration to herself personally. She added: "Dame Olivia was an inspiration to me not only for her work but the way she carried herself in life with all the ups and down that she had, she went out of her way to help other people.
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"Especially when she encountered really tough times herself, she not only fought her cancers quite publicly but then she was an inspiration for everyone else: that yes they could do that yes they could go through this. She even went and built a hospital in Australia to really address the issues of health in body mind and spirit.
"I feel that she made a huge difference in the world as an advocate for how to handle cancer and she really cared about so many other people. She would go out of her way to help those that needed help."
© Photo: Getty ImagesThey had a shared understanding of juggling motherhood and their successful careers
Grieving her friend, Jane said Olivia’s passing has left a "huge hole" in her heart where she cannot call her or see her at her beautiful home in California. Devastated, she admitted it "hit home in a very big way".
"I found a huge hole in my heart and I realise I couldn't pick up the phone and speak to her anymore," she said. "I couldn't go over to her beautiful home and sit there and watch the dogs and the hummingbirds and talk about life. It really hit home in a very big way. It's a big loss and I didn’t realise, even though I didn’t see her as often as I would have liked to, quite what a profound loss it would be."
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In the last times that she saw Olivia, Jane admitted she knew her dear friend was very unwell but she remained her positive self throughout the tough times.
She said: "I knew that Olivia was very, very ill and we all knew for a long time. She actually allowed me to come up and see her for a number of occasions when to be honest I thought it would be the last time I would ever see her again. She was very frail, she was very positive and she was still truly appreciating life and really trying to make the best of what she had. I didn't, when I heard the news, I was not completely shocked because I knew she hadn;t been responding for some time and I was kind of expecting it."
© Photo: Getty ImagesTheir friendship stood the test of time
Jane said she wanted the world to know what an amazing, strong woman Olivia was, how she was proud of her daughter and the hospital she created as well as the loving marriage she had with John Easterling.
"As she used to say, she was not surviving she was thriving. And that's what I will always think of when I think of Olivia, how she was so positive to the end," she said.
Jane and Olivia had a special bond that goes way back over 40 years. As performers, the friends bonded over the "unique experience" of juggling their marriages and raising children with continuing their careers.
© Photo: Getty ImagesThey were a great support to each other
"I have so many great memories of Olivia it is hard to choose but I would have to say our relationship developed originally through her sister Rona who I had come to America with and was living with for a brief time and looking after Rona’s son, helping with Emmerson," she said.
"My father had been Rona’s doctor and had delivered Emmerson but really Olivia and I, our bond was both that being performers and dealing with how we would do that and be married and have relationships and have children.
"We really spoke about that, that kind of unique pressure, that unique experience that we had. We would talk very intimately about what it was like to raise children and find the way to continue our careers and make it all work together. She always supported me in everything and anything I ever did and I tried to do the same for her."
WATCH: Beautiful tributes for Olivia Newton-John from family and friends
Read Jane's love letter to Olivia...
I've been spending the time since Olivia passed looking at old photographs of us together and remembering our amazing times. Funny times, us giggling together and really realising what a gift it was to have known her at all. When I meet people who say what was she like? I realise a lot of people knew her on the screen not many really got to know her in her real life.
Her honesty, her authenticity and the fact she would make time is really what stays with me. I always think of that song she sang, I Honestly Love You, I don’t know anyone else who could have sang it with such authenticity.
Olivia was surrounded by people she loved. She loved John, she loved her daughter Chloe and I know she just truly loved sitting outside and looking at nature. She just couldn’t get enough of that, the beauty of the world around her. I think that mattered to her enormously.
Love, Jane xxx
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