Olivia (33 page)

He had married Yvette on 1 March 1992 and she had given birth to a boy in August of that year. But they separated on 30 June 1993, and were divorced a year later. A judge granted Patrick and Yvette joint custody of Chance but court papers showed that the pair were in dispute over Patrick’s visiting rights.

Legal papers also disclosed that Patrick had filed for bankruptcy in a Los Angeles court in 2000, and that he was also paying $800 a month to Yvette in child support, according to a 1994 divorce filing. It was also revealed that he had recently been chased by Yvette in court for failing to pay maintenance for their son.

The actress, who has appeared in a number of films and TV shows and had regular roles in the soap operas
General Hospital
and
Days
Of Our Lives
and the TV series
Robocop
and
21 Jump Street
, had filed court papers in April of that year, two months before Patrick’s disappearance, over child support payments, ordering Patrick to pay up. If he did not subsequently meet those payments, he risked a possible jail sentence.

After Patrick’s money worries came to light, newspapers began speculating that Patrick might not have been the victim of a tragic accident after all, but that he may have faked his own death and gone into hiding to escape his debts and a bitter ex-wife pursuing him through the courts for child support. The theory that he had arranged to disappear gained further credence when it was revealed that a life-insurance policy of $132,000 would be paid out to his son upon Patrick’s death or presumed death.

One line of enquiry was whether Patrick himself had settled up for the food and drink tab he had run up while on board. Or had someone else paid the bill for him?

Particularly puzzling for the investigators was why Patrick had taken his passport with him on an overnight fishing trip. Frank Liversedge considered it a possibility that Patrick could have staged his own disappearance. ‘My opinion is that he wanted to disappear,’ he said. ‘I believe that he got off the boat at the harbour and just wanted to vanish.

‘I have worked here for forty-five years and not had a single man go overboard. There is a one in a trillion chance that he fell into the water - because somebody would have seen him.’

Liversedge thought it inconceivable that Patrick had fallen into the water during the boat’s final journey from the marker buoy to the harbour. ‘I’ve seen thousands of trips on that boat,’ he said. ‘I know the procedure. If somebody had fallen overboard from that buoy to the dock, at least fifteen people would have seen him.

‘He used to come here with his son in the daytime. But for some reason he chose to come here alone and go night fishing on the day he went missing.

‘What sort of fisherman would have a tackle box so meticulous, a passport on a boat and all his credit cards and leave them behind? It looks like he was trying to set something up.’

US Coast Guard spokesman Scott Epperson also voiced some suspicions: ‘Everyone who booked a ticket for that boat has been interviewed and no one can remember seeing Mr McDermott get off,’ he said. ‘There is also no physical evidence to suggest he was pushed or fell in the water. Is it possible he might have run away? I’d have to say yes, very possible.’

Patrick’s neighbours in the Los Angeles suburb of Van Nuys were just as mystified as the investigators. ‘I don’t believe he’s disappeared,’ said an incredulous Kathleen Paddon. ‘He’d never do anything to be away from Chance. That boy is his sunshine, his moon and his stars.’ Privately, that’s precisely what Olivia felt too.

The case took on a disturbing new twist for Olivia when a number of eyewitnesses all independently claimed to have seen Patrick alive and well in Mexico.

If they were to be believed, Patrick had been seen in the company of a mystery blonde on Mexico’s Baja California peninsula. The couple were said to have stayed in a cheap beachside shack before driving off in the green camper van in which they had arrived. A worker at the Pescadero Surf Camp in Todos Santos told the Australian newspaper the
Advertiser
, ‘The lady was here for three days by herself and he came here for a night.’ The owner of the camp also claimed he had seen Patrick, and a bar owner ventured he had seen him three months before.

Olivia was quizzed as part of the official investigations, but despite the press clamouring for her to make some sort of comment, she chose to remain silent for nearly two months after Patrick’s disappearance was discovered. She cancelled several TV appearances to promote her new CD, but her silence appeared to some as callous. By keeping mum, she suffered unfair criticism about the depth of her feelings for Patrick. But, as she later explained, she decided to say nothing simply out of respect for Patrick’s family.

Finally, on 22 August, fully fifty-two days after Patrick went missing, Olivia issued a desperate public appeal for information: ‘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,’ she said. ‘I ask anybody with information that could help to please, please come forward.’

In an emotional statement for
Entertainment Tonight
Olivia not only expressed her sadness and anxiety but explained why she had decided to remain silent on the subject. Her statement read: ‘As you are all now aware, my dear friend Patrick McDermott, who I love very much, is missing. He was last seen on a charter fishing boat on June thirtieth. Out of respect for his family I have chosen not to make any public statements until now. For those of us who know and love him, it has been a truly heartbreaking experience and we have chosen to deal with it privately. I have offered my full cooperation to the authorities who are continuing to investigate the circumstances of his disappearance and we are hopeful that eventually we will find some answers. I am grateful for all of those who have expressed their concern. I would simply ask for your continued support and prayers for his safety and wellbeing and for that of his family.’

Olivia’s appeal yielded no new significant leads and, frustrated by the investigations seemingly going nowhere, Olivia eventually turned to Gavin de Becker, the trusted private detective whose firm she had called in during her ordeal over stalker Michael Perry in 1983. But to this day, Patrick’s fate remains unknown.

After more than a year spent investigating Patrick’s disappearance, the US Attorney’s office was unable to find any evidence that the owners of the fishing boat were responsible. A detailed forensic investigation had unearthed no evidence to suggest Patrick was pushed overboard and the Attorney’s office closed the investigation in August 2006. They have said they would be prepared to reopen the investigation at any time if they should receive any pertinent information relevant to the case. Meanwhile, the US Coast Guard investigation remains open as an unsolved missing person’s case.

 

 

Olivia has always maintained that Patrick was most unlikely to have faked his own death to start a new life. She knew how much his son Chance meant to him and she felt he would never put him through such anguish.

‘We had a wonderful relationship,’ she said. ‘He was so special, and bright and loving and thoughtful and incredibly reliable as a father and boyfriend.’

Intriguingly, however, Emerson Newton-John, her sister Rona’s son, later claimed that Olivia’s relationship with Patrick had come to a natural end and that she had no knowledge of his financial problems. Her nephew also claimed that Patrick, who had been sober for many years, had started drinking again and was depressed about his money problems and access to his son Chance.

For Olivia, and Patrick’s family, the continuing mystery has been hard to bear. Hardest of all has been the lack of closure, as they still have no idea of what precisely happened. In the immediate aftermath of Patrick’s disappearance, Olivia was plunged into deep gloom and she built a winding stone path in her garden as a personal, private memorial to her lover, where she could quietly linger and reflect on the good times they had shared. It was somewhere she could feel close to him.

A year earlier, millions of television viewers had seen just how much Olivia meant to Patrick when she was the subject of the Australian version of the TV programme
This Is Your Life
. Olivia was misty-eyed when Patrick declared: ‘I love you. The whole world loves you . . . You are the epitome of the word “woman”.’ In a videotaped message he continued: ‘If we could all just be a little bit like you, we’d all be a little better off. I love you with all my heart.’

Olivia admitted that when she was at her lowest ebb after Patrick’s disappearance she resorted to taking antidepressants. ‘I think if you are in a dark place where you can’t pull yourself out, you may need to ask for help,’ she explained.

After six months she managed to wean herself off the medication. She realised one morning that she didn’t need it any more. ‘There were a few days when I thought, I don’t know if I can do this, and then I had this little voice in my head - that is my guide - and it said you can do it . . . it is an inner strength that I found.’

Olivia believes the healing process really began only when she ceased taking the antidepressants. ‘Once you go off them, you can deal with it better,’ she said. ‘It’s important to go deeply into your emotions. You have to cry.’

The sad irony for Olivia was that Patrick’s disappearance occurred a matter of weeks before the release of her new studio album
Stronger Than Before
. As Olivia herself stated on the CD’s sleeve, the album was comprised of ‘songs of inspiration, encouragement and understanding to all those facing breast cancer or any other challenging journey’.

Olivia’s own journey had been more challenging than most, but she was at pains to point out that
Stronger Than Before
was made prior to her heartache over Patrick and that she was so devastated by what had happened that she had considered giving up singing altogether. ‘Now it’s almost like I’ve made it for myself,’ she said. ‘I didn’t feel like singing and I didn’t think I’d ever sing again. The thought of it was terrifying to me. But singing is a part of me and it’s my soul. It’s how I can express myself and move through it. It’s healing for me as well as the audience and I need that. Singing has helped me to deal with the grief.’

Stronger Than Before
was recorded specifically as the cornerstone of Hallmark Gold Crown stores’ programme in support of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Two dollars of every purchase went to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Among the ten soft-rock tracks was ‘Can I Trust Your Arms’, a song with music by Olivia and lyrics by Chloe, which the latter had written for her mother as a Christmas present. Olivia had asked Chloe to write a song for the album but her request had failed to elicit an immediate response. Olivia figured that perhaps her daughter wasn’t interested in contributing to the album, until Chloe handed her a CD box on Christmas morning with lyrics she had penned on a piece of paper tucked inside. Olivia promptly sat down at the piano and wrote a melody which came to her in ten minutes flat. Olivia was so touched by Chloe’s contribution that for the
Stronger Than Before
album she also recorded a song she’d written especially for Chloe called ‘That’s All I Know For Sure’.

By far the most ambitious, and poignant, track on the album was ‘Phenomenal Woman’, based on a poem by Maya Angelou. This tribute to womanhood featured a vocal collaboration by several singers who had survived cancer, including fellow Aussie songstress Delta Goodrem, Amy Sky, Mindy Smith, Olivia herself, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Amy Holland, Diahann Carroll and Patti LaBelle.

Olivia was desperate to promote the CD to help raise funds, and she put on a brave front to give interviews although she was aching with sadness inside. In the main, the subject of Patrick’s disappearance was a subject she avoided while the investigations continued and she grieved for Patrick in private. But in one interview she broke down in tears and conceded: ‘The worst part is not knowing what happened.’ And she admitted: ‘It’s very shocking. In the beginning I was kind of frozen. We miss him. We love him. I loved Patrick very much, I always will.’

Tellingly she added: ‘Patrick would want me to go on with my life, I know that.’

Chapter 17

Mother and Daughter

CHLOE LATTANZI, 2007

 

 

NOT MANY PEOPLE were generally aware of, or even understood the meaning of, anorexia nervosa until the untimely death of singer Karen Carpenter in 1983. Karen was one half of the brother-and-sister act The Carpenters, whose dreamy intimate harmonies on densely layered records produced sales of ten million singles in the early 1970s.

But in 1974, Karen, suffering from eating disorders and worryingly thin, collapsed. Her anorexia nervosa necessitated a slow-down in the duo’s frantic recording and concert activity.

As with Olivia’s records, the lush melodies of The Carpenters’ hits struck a chord with millions of lovers of middle-of-the-road music, and Olivia’s path often crossed with Karen’s as they simultaneously soared to success. The two singers became firm friends. They were such close pals that in 1983 Karen asked Olivia to accompany her for moral support when she went to sign her divorce papers, ending her marriage to a businessman. But almost immediately after, Karen died of heart failure due to complications related to her illness. She was just thirty-two.

Instead of finding herself playing the supportive companion for Karen on what clearly was going to be a very emotional day, Olivia found herself attending her funeral.

Karen’s death hit Olivia very hard. She knew that Karen had not been well and that she had been receiving treatment in New York. But, like most other people, Olivia knew very little about anorexia nervosa. It was a subject neither spoken about nor written about in the way it is today. And little did Olivia know at the time of Karen’s death that her own daughter Chloe would be fighting her own battle with anorexia some twenty years later.