Kylie Minogue revealed she privately battled cancer a second time in 2021 — more than 15 years after her 2005 breast cancer diagnosis and successful treatment.
“My second cancer diagnosis was in early 2021. I was able to keep that to myself … Not like the first time,” the pop star, 57, shared in her new self-titled Netflix documentary, which was released Tuesday.
“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.”
The “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” hitmaker revealed she was diagnosed after a routine checkup.
“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,” Minogue said in promotional materials for the documentary, per the Guardian.
After she finished her treatments, Minogue struggled with finding the “right time” to publicly share her diagnosis even as she found success with her 2023 Grammy-winning hit, “Padam Padam.”
“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.”
Though, she did make reference to the “secret” battle she took on behind closed doors in her 2023 song “Story,” which is featured on her album “Tension.”
“I had a secret that I kept to myself … Turn another page, baby take the stage,” reads some of the song lyrics.
In her documentary, Minogue explained she shared the private piece of her life on the song because she “needed to have something that marked that time.”
Minogue was 36 years old when she received her first breast cancer diagnosis. In response, she canceled the remaining dates on her Showgirl greatest hits tour and pulled out of her headlining gig at Glastonbury festival that year to start her cancer treatments in Melbourne.
She was declared cancer-free in 2006.
