Kylie Minogue has revealed she had a second cancer diagnosis in 2021, after having received successful treatment for breast cancer in 2005.
In her self-titled new Netflix documentary – released on Wednesday – the Australian singer said she “got through it, again”, but added she decided not to go public with the news.
“My second cancer diagnosis was in early 2021. I was able to keep that to myself,” said Minogue, 57. “Not like the first time.”
“Thankfully, I got through it, again, and all is well,” she continued. “Hey, who knows what’s around the corner, but pop music nurtures me… my passion for music is greater than ever.”
“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,” said Minogue.
“I didn’t want to leave the house again at one point. Padam Padam opened so many doors for me but on the inside I knew that cancer wasn’t just a blip in my life.
“And I really just wanted to say what happened so I can let go of it. I’d sit through interviews and every opportunity I thought, ‘now’s the time’, but I kept it to myself.”
Although she did not reveal it to fans or journalists, Minogue left little hints about her second round of cancer treatment on her 2023 album Tension.
One track, Story, contains the lyrics: “I had a secret that I kept to myself / Turn another page, baby take the stage.”
In the three-part documentary – directed by Michael Harte, who also worked on the David Beckham film – the star said: “I needed to have something that marked that time.”
Minogue, who was diagnosed after a routine check-up, has stressed is was her choice to share the new information in the hope there is “someone out there who will benefit from a gentle reminder to do their check-ups”.
“Early detection was very helpful and I am so grateful to be able to say that I am well today,” she added in the film’s promotional material.
When she was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, the singer had to scrap the remainder of her Showgirl greatest hits tour and pull out of headlining Glastonbury Festival’s Sunday legends slot in order to get treatment, which included chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
It was widely publicised at the time, and Minogue received an outpouring of well wishes from fans, as well as public messages of support from famous figures.
As one of the few female stars at the time to go public with a cancer diagnosis, Mingoue was widely praised for raising awareness of the disease.
It led to a huge number of women getting themselves checked, particularly in Australia – and was dubbed in the country as the “Kylie effect”.
PA MediaShe had postponed her treatment, she told Netflix producers, to undergo numerous rounds of IVF in the hope of having a baby.
“I was 36 when I got my diagnoses so already it’s – you need to be thinking about children,’ she said in the film.
“So I did try, I even postponed my chemotherapy to try, which was quite scary at the time because you just want it out, gone.”
She added: “If it had happened it would have been just shy of a miracle. But it didn’t work out that way.”
Minogue was given the all-clear and, in 2008, revealed she had originally been misdiagnosed and told she “was alright, and had nothing to worry about”.
She finally made it to Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage in 2019 – 14 years later than planned – blinking back the tears with a decades-spanning greatest hits set that became the festival’s most-watched performance ever.
In December last year, she bagged a UK Christmas number one single and album chart double.
The new docuseries follows Minogue’s rise to fame from her early days starring in the Australian soap Neighbours through to her journey becoming one of pop’s biggest stars with hits such as Can’t Get You Out Of My Head and Spinning Around.
It features archive footage and interviews with friends and family including her former Neighbours co-star and ex-boyfriend, Jason Donovan, sister Dannii and musician Nick Cave.
