She was a superstar with the world at her feet but Kylie Minogue was just 37 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
And now, nearly 10 years later, the Australian singer became emotional as she told Australian journalist Karl Stefanovic about how she coped with the disease in an interview for Australia's Channel Nine current affairs series 60 Minutes.
Responding to his question about how she navigated her way through breast cancer Kylie, 46, said she learned many lessons, reports the Daily Mail.
She said: “Oh boy, how did I do that?
“Someone had said to me at the time, ‘You need to be a little bit selfish’.
“It’s not in my nature to be selfish but now is the time to do that, let people take care of you. And…that’s what I did.”
Karl then asked The Voice Australia coach (Kylie quit the UK show after the last series) what she learned about herself during that time, to which she replied:
“Erm, it’s really hard to… to…many things. I know I have strength but when you’re fighting something where there is a lot of unknown it’s a mixture, a mixture of emotions and memories.
“It is years until you really get the all-clear and by the time my hair started growing back it was very exciting, it was like a miracle.”
The episode then cut to Kylie singing and dancing with children at Sydney Hospital, where she goes to offer her support whenever she can.
As well as discussing the difficult times in her life, the courageous pop star also spoke about her relationship with the late Michael Hutchence, who she dated in the late 1980s.
At first she remarked that, “I was probably not very cool then and he was very cool and somehow we met in the middle.”
The star then went on to talk about what the INXS rock star taught her, saying: “Many things, many things, ways of the world, he had travelled so much. I had so many firsts with him, it was great.’
And showing her sense of humour Kylie laughed uncontrollably as she talked about the legendary pick up line he is rumoured to have used when they first met.
Karl tackled what he called the “urban myth” head on and pretended to be Michael as he repeated the line.
“Kylie, I don’t know whether to take your for lunch or have sex with you,” he said, causing Kylie to fall about laughing.
“I’ve got a stitch coming on! I’m not going to say exactly what the line was because I like that it was something that’s just between him and I but it was something like that.
“And I was probably taken aback and quite intrigued. It was great love and it was true heartbreak.
“I’ve never met anyone like that,” she continued.
Kylie went on to talk about how she missed the iconic star who died in 1997 at the age of 37.
“He was just this kind of expansive all-encompassing lover of life and if you have such a strong love and there not there that’s somehow different to having a strong love for someone and have the possibility to see them again to talk or share more experiences.
“So I miss him just as much as anyone who was fortunate enough to have spent time with him.”
You can see Kylie with Michael Hutchence and talking about her breast cancer in the "Sneak peek" video to promote the 60 Minutes interview, below.
http://youtube.com/v/R65MC9WiHJc
