Kylie Minogue: I Was a 'Shell of a Person'

Kylie Minogue is revealing a painful chapter she kept to herself for years, only hinting at in songs. In a new three-part Netflix documentary, Kylie, the 56-year-old singer discloses that she was diagnosed with breast cancer for a second time in early 2021, following her high-profile bout with the disease in 2005 at age 36, per the Guardian. "I was able to keep that to myself … not like the first time," she says, adding that she's now recovered. "Thankfully, I got through it. Again. And all is well." The second diagnosis came after a routine checkup, she notes, using the film's release to urge fans to stay on top of screenings.

Minogue says that, for a time, she kept the matter quiet "because I was just a shell of a person," per the BBC. Years later, as her 2023 hit "Padam Padam" reignited her career and won her a Grammy, she says she struggled to find the right moment to speak publicly. "I'd sit through interviews and every opportunity I thought, 'now's the time', but I kept it to myself." That struggle fed into her 2023 song, "Story," with the lyrics, "I didn't let the world know / I was fightin' a big fight." The documentary, directed by Michael Harte, also revisits the intense media scrutiny around her first diagnosis—and her insistence that, this time, sharing was "my choice."