Kylie Minogue has revealed that she was diagnosed with cancer for a second time in 2021.
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The Australian pop icon was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, which forced her to cancel her planned headline performance at Glastonbury that year, as well as some other live tour dates. She was 36 years old at the time.
She discussed the previously unannounced diagnosis in her “intimate” three-part new Netflix documentary, titled Kylie, available from today (May 20).
“My second cancer diagnosis was in early 2021. I was able to keep that to myself … Not like the first time,” Minogue, now 57, said.
“Thankfully, I got through it. Again. And all is well. Hey, who knows what’s around the corner, but pop music nurtures me … my passion for music is greater than ever.”
Minogue went on to say that after her treatment, she struggled “to find the right time” to announce it publicly, including after the success of her Grammy-winning 2023 single ‘Padam Padam’ from her album at the time ‘Tension‘.
“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,” she said. “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.”
She said her 2023 song ‘Story’, refers to that period of her life, with lyrics such as “I had a secret that I kept to myself … Turn another page, baby take the stage.” Minogue said of Story: “I needed to have something that marked that time.”
In promotional material accompanying the documentary, Minogue said it was “my choice to share” the information, and that she was diagnosed after a routine check up. “There will be 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.
It comes after Minogue recently opened up about her experience with cancer over 20 years ago, saying that it is “still with [her] today”.
When reflecting on her first receiving the diagnosis, she explained: “Where do I even start? Shock.”
Mingoue continued: “You’re trying to understand something you’ve never thought about before. It’s a crash course. It’s very deep and extended, and it’s still with me today in many ways.”
She is set to release a brand-new single today, ‘Light Up’, to coincide with the arrival of her Netflix three-parter.
NME last caught up with Minogue late last year, when she spoke about the possibility of new music in 2026.
“I’ve been thinking about it just quietly, in the background,” she told us. “With these guys [who I am working with now], we always talk about ‘Oh, remember this one we started and we really didn’t get to finish it’. That discussion is always in the background, and I will have a micro break over Christmas and come back to it. Making music is my hobby and it’s a happy place for me, so I will.”
She added that the material would likely not follow the dance-pop sound of her last albums ‘Tension’ and ‘Tension II’, telling NME at the time: “I like to stay very non-committal, even in my mind, about where I would go with new music. I don’t actually know how I could describe it.”
After cancelling her bill-topping set at Glastonbury in ’05 due to her cancer diagnosis, Minogue finally made it to Worthy Farm in 2019 for the coveted ‘Legends Slot’ on the Pyramid Stage.
In 2020, she explained that the performance “felt like this massive acknowledgement of me as a performer”, having previously said her Glasto slot wasn’t “good enough”.
Last December saw Kylie Minogue make UK chart history as her festive single ‘Xmas’ landed at Christmas Number One.