A new docu-series about Kylie Minogue looks set to shed fresh light on some of the most intimate and formative moments of her life – from her frightening battle with breast cancer to her wild romance with INXS frontman Michael Hutchence.
“They’re convincing me to let you in,” the Aussie star teases in a trailer released this week for the three-part series, which is simply titled KYLIE and will drop on Netflix on May 20.
It goes on to show a montage of images and video footage, from her breakout role in the 1980s as Charlene in Neighbours through to her multiple-ARIA and Grammy-Award-winning four-decade career as a pop singer.
A series of intimate black and white photos show Minogue smiling and laughing in the arms of a bare-chested Hutchence, whom she dated for two years from 1989, while a large headline recalls how she was once cruelly derided by critics as “The Singing Budgie”.
Netflix has cherry-picked soundbites that suggest she speaks candidly in the documentary: “That feeling of freedom”, “I hate being boxed in”, “I became frustrated”. At one point, she even drops the F-bomb.
Sharing the trailer and poster on Instagram this week, Minogue wrote: “I. Can’t. Believe. It. Is. Almost. Here.
“Making this documentary has been a roller-coaster and a leap of faith. I’m excited for you to take a ride with me and director Michael Harte through my life and career and some of the important people, places and moments in it. You’ll laugh and cry … I know I did!”
Harte is the Emmy and BAFTA-winning director of Netflix’s hit documentary about footballer David Beckham (BECKHAM) and the Michael J Fox film Still. In KYLIE, he includes insights from the star’s family and friends, including sister Dannii Minogue, former Neighbours co-star and one-time boyfriend Jason Donovan, musician Nick Cave, and Pete Waterman of hitmaking trio Stock Aitken Waterman.
“Featuring footage from home movies, personal photographs, and new interviews with Kylie herself, the documentary shows the woman behind the hits,” promises Netflix.
“It examines how she’s faced public scrutiny, personal loss, and illness with grit and grace, earning respect far beyond her own fandom.”
One of the most poignant moments involves the Minogue sisters talking about how Kylie was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer in 2005 at just 36. She had surgery and chemotherapy before being given the all-clear in 2006.
“I felt removed from my body… I was so scared of what was ahead of me,” Kylie says tearfully in the trailer.
“We didn’t know if she’s ever gonna be well again,” sister Dannii adds. “But I just wanted to be with my sister.”
Cave, with whom Kylie recorded the 1996 hit Where the Wild Roses Grow, describes her as a “force”: “It’s all outward. Giving.”
Kylie Minogue toured Australia last year on the back of her Tension album. Photo: AAP
The trailer’s inclusion of the Hutchence photos, one of which shows the couple kissing, has piqued the interest of some people, especially in the UK tabloids.
Kylie was 21 and had recently split with Donovan when she got together with the then 29-year-old INXS frontman; he was at the peak of his career after the release of the band’s hit album Kick and she was riding high after her chart-topping self-titled debut album.
Minogue has spoken previously about how formative the relationship was for her. Hutchence – who later became the partner of Paula Yates and died in 1997 – was supportive of her career while also opening her eyes to a whole new world.
“The story book about this is that he is the dark bad boy and I was the pure good girl… and that was pretty much the truth,” Minogue shared in the 2019 documentary Mystify: Michael Hutchence.
“He definitely awakened my desire for other things in my world… sex, love, food, drugs, music, travel, books, you name it – he wanted to experience it, so as his partner I got to experience a lot of that as well.”
Source: ABC Arts
Whether KYLIE delves any deeper into that particular love story remains to be seen, but Netflix says the docu-series will celebrate “the joy, connection, and euphoria that make Kylie unmistakably Kylie”.
Fans are certainly eager to see the new exploration of the life of the Melbourne-born pop queen, who was recently announced as the headline act for this year’s AFL grand final in September.
“Can’t wait for it. Already had joy and tears just from the trailer,” wrote one follower on Instagram.
“Already emotionally unavailable for anything else that week! Some people have religion. I have Kylie Minogue!” gushed another.
Minogue has promised her fans there will be more music to come: “Life makes sense to me on stage,” she says in the trailer. “I don’t know where we’re going. There’s certainly no end.”
Want to see more stories from The New Daily in your Google search results?
- Click here to set The New Daily as a preferred source.
- Tick the box next to "The New Daily". That's it.
