It's a mother's worst nightmare — Olivia Newton-John's, to be more specific.
In the new music video for her single, "Play With Me," the 25-year-old daughter of the "Grease" star, Chloe Lattanzi, slithers about in deep-set makeup and proceeds to undertake a shocking string of suicidal, self-mutilating acts. She electrocutes herself while soaking in a bathtub with toaster ovens, radios and hairdryers, plays with exacto knives, shows off mangled, bruised arms and poses with a gun to head, all the while singing "Never knew love would taste like this." She cries in blood tears, then appears to snort cocaine and blow the dust straight into the camera's lens in a single poof.
For the record, we think the song is sort of catchy in a NIN, Evan Rachel Wood-during-her-Marilyn-Manson-phase way, even if we don't really believe her when she sings "Play With Me." (Or maybe we'd just rather not play with her, thank you.) But for all the typical teenage angst depicted in the film, the graphic component is aggressively morbid, and has drawn fierce criticism from her native Australia, according to The Improper.
"This simply glamorizes a range of harmful behaviors and does nothing to help empower young people to cope [with] relationship problems," President for the Australian Council for Children and the Media Elizabeth Handsley told the website.
Lattanzi has defended the video, calling it a form of "'artistic expression" in a press release and has since released a follow-up video, "Thank You To All The Fans And Haters," on YouTube.
WATCH:
CORRECTION: The above article misstated the source of Lattanzi's "artistic expression" quote. She issued the statement in a press release, not to WAtoday.com.au.
Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.