Dannii Minogue wiped away tears as she reflected on a turbulent time in her life as she chatted music on Take 5 with Zan Rowe.
The 52-year-old spoke about how “it was music that kept us going” when her older sister Kylie Minogue, now 56, was battling breast cancer almost two decades ago.
Dannii described Kylie’s May 2005 diagnosis as “the worst time ever” and tearfully remembered her sister “being carried off stage and stuff” while she was mid-tour.
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“She was like, ‘I just, I need to finish the tour’, like, she’s so professional. I’m like, ‘Oh, for God’s sake, we need to keep you alive’,” Dannii said during the season three premiere, which aired on ABC on Tuesday night.
“And yeah, like, we knew that was her goal – to get back and honour all of those tickets.”
Dannii said while that time “was bad”, some “good things came out of it”.
“I would go and visit [Kylie] when she was having chemo and very, very unwell,” Dannii remembered.
“I would just, like, jump around to just get some good vibes happening.
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“So, cut forward to her being able to get back on stage – it was the Homecoming tour – and she said, ‘Oh, will you jump on stage and sing Kids with me?’
“The joy when we came out on stage from the audience was unbelievable. You could hear the roar, and it was … but we felt that the whole time getting her better, we felt that love and support was there … like, waves of it.”
Dannii revealed some hidden meanings in their late 2006 duet performance, which included a nod to Olivia Newton-John in the choreography. Dannii credits the Grease star for inspiring her to pursue singing and says it’s the reason she joined Young Talent Time.
“Then we do this thing at the end of the catwalk, where we grab our hands, or, like, lean back and spin, and we remember doing that as kids, just on the grass with the sprinkler and stuff,” Dannii revealed.
“So it had all these references in there from all of our childhood, like, beautiful moments.”
The I Begin to Wonder singer revealed that as Kylie was on the road to recovery, she lost one of her closest friends, Laura, to cancer suddenly.
Dannii said the experience in those years left her “broken”.
“Every place I went, in my work capacity or in the street, people are like, ‘It’s so good your sister’s better!’ and I wanted to celebrate with them, but I was just like, ‘Yes’, with a blank walk and move on because inside, I was broken.
“I was so broken, because she was young, and it’s hard when it’s such a shock like that.”
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Dannii told Rowe the song Free by Ultra Nate is her way of remembering Laura.
Dannii also spoke about getting professional help after that time in her life, which led to her newfound love of books and podcasts about how the brain works.
Rowe will also sit down with comedian Bill Bailey, actress Claudia Karvan, rock legends Neil Finn and Bernard Fanning, singer Casey Donovan across the series.
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