EXCLUSIVE: Olivia Newton-John's Obsession With Vanished Love — How Our Reporting Led to Thoughts of Finally Finding Missing Man
Olivia Newton-John's search for a missing love fueled lifelong hope of finding him again.
June 12 2026, Updated 7:00 a.m. ET
Late pop icon Olivia Newton-John remained haunted to her grave over the disappearance of her boyfriend, according to a new biography – even though RadarOnline.com was first to reveal secret government documents proved her "dead" beau faked his drowning.
Her on-off lover, Patrick McDermott, boarded a charter fishing boat for an overnight trip off the California coast, but had vanished when the ship returned to dock on July 1, 2005.
Olivia Never Found True Closure
Matthew Hild said Olivia Newton-John believed Patrick McDermott drowned and never made peace with his disappearance.
"Olivia said at one point that he would haunt her forever because nobody would ever really know what happened," said Matthew Hild, author of the book A Little More Love, about Newton-John.
"To this day there are reports that Patrick McDermott is believed to be alive in Mexico.
"But what she finally told one of her closest friends was, 'I don't believe that. I believe he was killed. I think he drowned.' And I don't believe she ever really made peace with it."
At the time of McDermott's disappearance, the beloved Grease star – who died at age 73 in August 2022 after battling breast cancer – used her celebrity clout to plead for information about her missing lover.
The media firestorm prompted an extensive search by the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS), officially closing with a November 2008 report that McDermott "most likely" drowned.
Financial Troubles Raised New Questions
Government documents showed investigators suspected McDermott vanished for financial reasons.
But as RadarOnline.com reported in our issue dated Feb. 2, 2015, unearthed government papers revealed the CGIS kept the files on McDermott open after a routine check revealed the State Department had him on the "Deadbeat Parent Lookout" list to "prevent him from obtaining a future passport."
Investigators began to suspect McDermott, a lighting technician who was $35,000 in debt and owed child support, had vanished for financial reasons.
The Coast Guard documents also revealed Newton-John and McDermott were taking a break, but she hoped to rekindle their on-off relationship of nine years.
Dozens of Sightings Fueled Speculation
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A CGIS report documented multiple reported sightings of McDermott in the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
The hidden CGIS report – obtained by RadarOnline.com through a Freedom of Information Act request – revealed McDermott had been spotted at least a dozen times in locations ranging from Alberta, Canada, and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, to the tip of Baja California.
CGIS investigators have also chased down numerous "sightings of [McDermott] in the United States and Mexico."
In 2009, the Coast Guard issued a statement saying the agency was "not actively investigating the case."
That same year, Newton-John said: "I think there will always be a question mark. I don't think I will ever really be at peace with it."
