Australian singer Kylie Minogue is well known for hits including “Can’t Get You Out of My Head.” But at the height of her fame in the early 2000s, she was also struggling with breast cancer.
As the world prepares for her upcoming documentary, she’s shedding light on the battle and what helped her through the dark times.
Kylie Minogue Uses Music To Help Process Her Breast Cancer Journey
Although the Australian singer thankfully survived her breast cancer battle, she never forgot it. In a new interview with the BBC, Kylie Minogue bravely discussed the impact it had on her life.
“Where do I even start? Shock,” she described the moment she received the initial breast cancer diagnosis. “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.”
Kylie Minogue understands the diagnosis was never her fault. But even so, she admitted to feeling shame and humiliation over the media coverage.
But now, she’s taking agency over her narrative. Her Netflix documentary, “Kylie” explores the early days of her career and her health concerns. For years, she hesitated over the decision to make the series. She told the BBC she turned down offers many times. Then, something changed within her.
“If not now, when?” Kylie Minogue shared.
Fortunately, the singer went on to make a full recovery and was declared “cancer-free” in 2006 after successful treatment. She feels better than ever before, but still has trauma to work through.
“It’s trauma, and any trauma resides within you,” Minogue previously told CBS News. “The experience of a cancer diagnosis will live in me. It was difficult. It was also amazing. Amazing in that you are very aware of your body, of the love that’s around you, of your capability, all sorts of things.”
Throughout the journey, Kylie Minogue always had her music.
“I sing to process everything, I think,” she told the outlet. “I write to process. I perform to process. And sometimes I think I live to perform.”
“Kylie” Takes a Deep Dive Into the Singer’s Life & Personal Challenges
Netflix’s latest documentary, “Kylie,” explores the singer’s life and the hurdles she had to overcome. In the footage, loved ones also discuss how frightened they felt about her diagnosis.
“It’s like the earth had kind of slipped off its axis. You see everything differently,” Kylie Minogue told PEOPLE in 2000.
“I remember having had my diagnosis, but the world didn’t know,” the Australian singer told the outlet. “I was with my brother and my boyfriend at the time. We were all in a daze and went to a cafe. The server at the cafe was like, ‘Hey, how are you today?’ We just kind of robotically said, ‘Good, thanks,’ and in that moment, I just thought, you really don’t know what anyone is going through. I thought that same person by tomorrow is going to see the news and say, ‘Oh my God, she was here yesterday, and we didn’t know.'”
“Kylie” will be available to stream on Netflix starting May 20, 2026.
