Kylie Minogue has revealed she kept a second cancer diagnosis secret in her new Netflix docuseries.
The Can’t Get You Out of My Head hitmaker, 57, has taken a trip down memory lane in the three-part series delving into her life and decades-long music career – and includes some candid confessions.
This includes discussing her experience with breast cancer, which the Neighbours star was first diagnosed with in 2005, aged 36, which led to her cancelling her world tour and Glastonbury headline act at the last minute.
In the third episode, the global pop icon grew emotional; however, as she opened up about a second cancer diagnosis she received in 2021 and decided to keep a secret from the public.
The revelation came when she was discussing the song, Story, the closing track on her 2023 album, Tension, which includes the lyrics: ‘I had a secret that I kept to myself, yeah / I had a one-way ticket that was goin’ nowhere’.
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Choking up in the documentary, Kylie explains that the song was about the disease coming back.
She told the camera: ‘There’s a song that we wrong called Story, and Story was written because… my second cancer diagnosis was in early 2021.’
When she shared her first cancer diagnosis, there was a wave of reaction, including an influx of media interest in the form of a ‘swarm of paparazzi’ which kept them ‘trapped in their home’.
As such, the Aussie music artist continued: ‘I was able to keep that to myself and go through that year and not like the first time.’
‘Wow, I’ve been trying to find the right time to say it. I don’t feel obliged to tell the world – and actually I couldn’t at the time because I was just a shell of a person. I didn’t want to leave the house again at one point,’ she said with tears in her eyes.
Just two years after her second diagnosis, Kylie’s new single, Padam Padam, became one of the biggest hits of the summer, reaching number five on the singles chart and revitalising her fanbase with the next generation.
During her press tour, there were several times she contemplated sharing the truth behind her second diagnosis, but, in the end, wasn’t able to.
She explained: ‘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 so I needed to have something that marked that time.’
Without going into detail about her recovery, she confirmed she had since been given the all-clear.
‘Thankfully, I got through it – again – and all is well. Hey, who knows what’s around the corner, but pop music nurtures me,’ Kylie shared.
The star’s life was heavily disrupted after her first diagnosis, over 20 years ago. As she shared in the documentary, she had to put her chemotherapy on pause to undergo IVF treatment.
The two IVF rounds were not successful, with Kylie instead writing a letter to the child she never met.
She said: ‘If it happened, it would have been shy of a miracle, but it didn’t work out that way, so this was a letter to what might have been.
‘One can’t help but wonder what it would have been like. I’m so close to my family, but it wasn’t my path.’
In an interview with Metro, Kylie reflected on her younger self and everything she went through privately and professionally.
‘‘I’m really proud of her. But people go, “Well, how did you [get through that]? I wasn’t going.. “I’m gonna do this”. I think when I was either being told no, or hearing no, or feeling no, and I go… but I haven’t got there yet.’
And specifically addressing the criticism she faced early on in her career, she added: ‘I totally understand criticism at any point in this career because what you do isn’t for everyone, and sometimes you don’t do it that well, and you’re putting yourself into that space, but in the early days I understand it, because I wasn’t formed.’
Kylie is available to stream on Netflix now.
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