Kylie Minogue’s secret second battle with cancer as star says ‘I got through it again’

It’s been more than two decades since pop star Kylie had to stop her Showgirl world tour for breast cancer treatment, now she reveals it’s happened again – and she’s beaten it

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Kylie looks shaky and emotional as she tells of her secret battle with breast cancer for a second time, in 2021

Kylie Minogue has revealed that she fought and overcame breast cancer for a second time in 2021, after previously beating the disease in 2005.

But unlike the first time – when her shock diagnosis was announced within days because she was in the middle of a world tour – this time around Kylie kept the whole episode private. “I was able to keep that to myself and go through that year, not like the first time,” she says tearfully. “I’ve been trying to find the right time to say it – I just couldn’t at the time. I was just a shell of a person.”

In 2023, the pop star was thrilled when Grammy-winning song Padam Padam “opened so many doors for me” but said she felt strange about hiding about the huge health battle she’d been fighting in secret. “On the inside I knew that the cancer wasn’t just a blip in my life and I really just needed to say what happened so I could let go of it.”

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Kylie at the launch of her Netflix documentary series in London last week(Image: John Phillips/Getty Images for Netflix)

She makes the revelation in the third episode of her new Netflix documentary series Kylie. Asked afterwards why now seemed like the right time to speak out, the singer says it felt “important” to be truthful. “Thankfully I got through it again and all is well,” she explains. “Making this documentary has meant looking back at so many pivotal moments in my life and this was another one. I also know there will be someone out there who will benefit from a gentle reminder to do their check-ups.

“As part of my routine check-ups in 2021, I was diagnosed with a second primary breast cancer. Early detection was very helpful and I am so grateful to be able to say that I am well today.”

One of her coping mechanisms was to write a song about it, Story, with long-time collaborator Richard “Biff” Stannard. Saying she needed “something to mark it”, Kylie, 57, explained: “When I started writing Story I knew one day I would share what the meaning behind the song was. Finding the right time to do so was tricky. I didn’t imagine it would be in a documentary but perhaps it found its own time and place.”

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In the programme she tells of her second cancer battle by saying she wrote a song about it with songwriter pal Biff, who holds her hand

And sending a message to anyone feeling reluctant to attend hospital appointments having gone through cancer, she urged: “I get it; you just want to move on and put it in the past or park it to the side. But, check-ups are incredibly important. It can be daunting and triggering but please be mindful of just how vital they are – and reach out for help if you need it, you’re not alone.”

Her first diagnosis came in 2005 when she was keen to start a family with her former boyfriend, the French actor Olivier Martinez. In episode three, she speaks candidly about her decision to delay having chemotherapy in order to have IVF treatment.

She sighs: “There’s so much more to cancer than you had it, you got through it and you’re fine – or fine for now. I was 36 when I got my diagnosis so already it’s – you need to be thinking about children.”

On the subject of becoming a mother – which she often spoke about as an ambition over the years – she says now: “I did try. I even postponed my chemotherapy to try – which was quite scary at the time because you just want it out. Gone. I want to feel safe, I don’t want this. But yeah, I did try a few times with IVF, always it was with such a thread of hope. But I couldn’t not try.

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Kylie with former partner Olivier Martinez, in 2005(Image: Mirrorpix)

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Kylie during treatment for her first breast cancer(Image: Stephen Butler/Shutterstock)

“If it had happened it would have been just shy of a miracle. But it didn’t work out that way. 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.”

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In the film Kylie even reads out some words she wrote in a letter to the baby “that might have been”. “Distant child, my flower, are you blowing in the breeze?” she wonders. “Can you feel me as I breathe life into you, wrapped in a blanket of hope, asleep on a bed of dreams? My step into eternity is not what it might have been. Or not at all – for who knows which way the wind is going to blow? I’m waiting for your whisper.”

Reflecting on Kylie’s deep desire to have children, her sister looks bereft on camera as she thinks about how good the star is with her nephews, including Danni’s own 15-year-old son. “I never saw myself as a parent,” she admits. “And she always did. That’s heartbreaking.”

And Dannii also says she’d have done anything to make the cancer disappear in 2005. “I remember saying, if I could chop off one of my arms now and this could all go away, I would. I just felt so helpless.”

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Kylie and Dannii in London together last week(Image: James Shaw/Shutterstock)

Having moved to Paris for her chemotherapy, Kylie remembers a key turning point coming when she looked out of the window as the Eiffel Tower, and the lights began to twinkle. “I thought ‘Oh, she’s sparkling for me!’ And I thought ‘I’m not finished. This is not where I want to say goodbye’.”

After the treatment ended, and Kylie’s strength slowly began to return, she was determined to finish the world tour she had started. “I wanted to feel able again,” she explains. “Bit it wasn’t easy, I felt so drained. I felt like my body was a battleground.”

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The second diagnosis explains why Kylie quit the UK for Australia towards the end of 2021, settling in Melbourne. She is clear that her parents and siblings have been a lifelong support to her. “I was saved – I really was,” she says simply. “Of course, you learn what resilience means and what love means. Having had cancer one important thing to know is – you’re still the same person. I remember coming out at the other end and feeling more like myself than ever before.” She has kept cards and messages from fans, sent from all over the world, in a box. “Those letters, in pretty dark moments, they meant so much.”

The documentary also charts how, after having to pull out of the Glastonbury Festival because of her breast cancer in 2005, she finally made it to the Pyramid stage in 2019, where she pulled in one of the biggest audiences of all time.

Looking back, she says she was full of nerves. “I was terrified it would be like Spinal Tap,” she laughs. In the end, it was a triumph. “It was such a wave of love,” she says. “I had so much goodness from so many people who had willed me to reach that stage.” And marvelling at that career-defining moment, she declares: “I think I might have done it. Little Kylie got there.” Her pal and singing buddy Nick Cave sums up why she is so loved around the globe. “Her connection with the audience, it’s not phoney,” he says. “It is very real to her – it’s a true form of love.”

Looking to the future, Kylie says she plans to take things a bit easy, but jokes that she can rarely manage more than three days without thinking about work. “Hey, who knows what is around the corner?” she reasons. ” But pop music nurtures me. Pop can elate you, it can soothe you, it can be a type of salvation for some people. My passion for music is greater than ever.”

– Kylie launches on Netflix today (20 May)