Iconic Australian singer Kylie Minogue has shared in two major revelations in her Netflix documentary, Kylie.
In the new three-part series, Minogue candidly talks about her IVF experience, reveals new details about former partner INXS frontman Michael Hutchence, and gives us some lovely insights into her relationship with her famous sister, Dannii Minogue.
But what will surprise – and dismay – the Australian public especially – is what the 57-year-old admits in the final episode.
Minogue reveals that she was diagnosed with cancer for a second time in 2021, after being cancer-free for 16 years – since 2005.
“I was able to keep that to myself and go through that year – not like the first time,” she says in the heartbreaking moment.
“I’ve been trying to find the right time to say it. I don’t feel obliged to tell the world – and actually, I just couldn’t at the time, because I was just a shell of a person.
“Padam Padam opened so many doors for me but on the inside I knew that cancer wasn’t just a blip in my life.
“Thankfully, I got through it. Again. And all is well.”
Padam Padam is Minogue’s 2023 hit song her on album, Tension. Unbeknownst to most of the audience, another song on the album – Story – was about cancer.
Minogue says the track refers to that time in her life, with lyrics such as “I had a secret that I kept to myself … Turn another page, baby take the stage.”
“I needed to have something that marked that time,” she tells the interviewer.
Kylie Minogue Netflix documentary
Minogue also reflects on her IVF journey towards the end of the documentary.
The Grammy award-winning artist was 36 at the time of her first diagnosis, and she admits that children were on her mind – so when she finished treatment, she began IVF.
“I did try a few times with IVF, always with such a thread of hope,” she says in the show. “But I couldn’t not try.
“If it had happened, it would have been just shy of a miracle. But it didn’t work out that way.”
Her 2007 song Flower was written for the child she never had. The lyrics read:
“Distant child, my flower / Are you blowing in the breeze?
“Can you feel me as I breathe life into you? / In a while, my flower, somewhere in a desert haze / I know one day, you’ll amaze me.”
Talking about the song Kylie says, “One can’t help but wonder what it would’ve been like … It wasn’t my path. That’s what I was writing about. Even if you didn’t come to be, you’re somewhere.
“We all become something. Even if it’s ash, and we become something else. So I was kind of hopeful and realistic at the same time.”
The admission has already began to resonate with women on social media, with one in particular writing poignantly: “We both would have been wonderful mums. Thank you for your music that helped me get through the losses.”
Top image: Kylie Minogue in ‘Kylie’. Image: Netflix