She has undergone radiation treatment but has also cut out sugar and takes cannabis oil for the pain — something she hopes will become legal in Australia.
"In California it's legal to grow a certain amount of plants for your own medicinal purposes. So he [her husband] makes me tinctures. It's hard to say, they help with pain.
"I'm very lucky that I live in a state where it's legal and that I have a husband that is a plant-medicine man.
"My dream is that, in Australia soon, it will be available to all the cancer patients and people going through cancer that causes pain."
But is it hard to maintain her brave face?
"Um, … well, no," Olivia laughs.
"I mean, I have my moments, but I'm not gonna have my moments here. There are moments. I'm human. So if I allow myself to go there, I could easily create that, you know, big fear."
Olivia was speaking from her ranch not far from Santa Barbara, California, some 150km north of Los Angeles, which she shares with her husband, herbal remedy entrepreneur John Easterling.
"For me, it has a feeling of Australia about it," she told Sunday Night reporter Alex Cullen. "There's no neighbours that we can see, so it's private."
It's where, she says, she's undertaking the 'journey' of her life.
"A lot of people see it as a fight, and that's … however you choose to see it, that's your prerogative. I see it as part of my mission."
And it's being helped by a song she sang decades ago — she considers it her personal theme.
"The chorus goes … 'Don't stop believin', don't stop believin', you'll get by.'"
But amid it all, she insists she has no regrets. She feels lucky even.
"You know, there are other people out there doing much, much worse than me. And, um, I'm a very privileged person, and I'm very aware of that. I live in this beautiful place. I have a wonderful husband. I have all the animals that I adore. I have an incredible career. I have nothing, really, to complain about."
