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Dannii Minogue on Kylie, career and the tragedy she kept secret

'I was so broken.'
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Kylie and Dannii Minogue’s first TV performance together was on Young Talent Time in 1986, singing a cover of ‘Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves’.

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Two decades on, they reunited to duet on ‘Kids,’ Kylie’s hit song with Robbie Williams, on December 16, 2006.

Dannii Minogue in a yellow dress
Minogue was reminded of time in hospital with her late friend when she gave birth to her son. (Credit: Getty)

That performance was part of Kylie’s Showgirl: The Homecoming Tour, which included a run of Australian dates to replace the local leg of the Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour that had been cancelled after her 2005 breast cancer diagnosis.

“At the start of the song, we’re at the top of the stairs, and we do the daggiest dancing,” Dannii remembered of the comeback performance while appearing on Take 5 with Zan Rowe. “Then we’d do this thing at the end of the catwalk where we’d grab our hands and lean back and spin.”

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Kylie and Dannii Minogue on  Young Talent Time 
in 1986.
Appearing together 
on Young Talent Time 
in 1986. (Credit: Supplied)

We remember doing that as kids, on the grass with the sprinkler and stuff. It had all these references in there from all of our childhood beautiful moments.”

Dannii, 52, was emotional when she recalled the love she and her sister had received from fans.

Kylie and Dannii Minogue on stage
“We knew that was [Kylie’s] goal – to get back and honour all 
of those tickets,” 
Dannii revealed. (Credit: AAP)
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“The joy when we came out on stage from the audience was unbelievable,” she said. “You could hear the roar. But we felt that the whole time, like getting her better, we felt that their love and support was there. Waves of it.”

Following Kylie’s cancer diagnosis in May 2005, she underwent a lumpectomy and an eight-month cycle of radiation and chemotherapy.

“When I would go and visit her when she was having chemo and very, very unwell, I would jump around to music with her to get some good vibes happening,” Dannii said.

After Kylie was declared cancer-free in February 2006, Dannii was dealt another blow when her best friend, Laura, was also diagnosed with the disease.

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Kylie and Dannii Minogue teamed up for WorldPride in 2023
The sisters teamed up again to perform at WorldPride in 2023. (Credit: Getty)

“She was staying with me and said she had a pain in her back – an hour later she was in the foetal position,” she explained. “She went into hospital, and she never came out again.”

Laura died during a week that Dannii had to fly from London, where they both lived at the time, to perform a concert in Australia. She found out about her friend’s passing moments before stepping on stage.

“When I was grieving her, every place I went, in my work capacity or in the street, people were like, ‘It’s so good your sister is better!’” she said. “I wanted to celebrate with them, but … 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 Minogue and her late friend Laura
Dannii Minogue and her late friend Laura

In 2010, Dannii shared how giving birth to her now 14-year-old son, Ethan, brought back emotional memories.

“When Laura was dying in hospital, I would rub her feet, and when I was in hospital having Ethan, one of the nurses came to the end of my bed and did the same to me,” she told Britain’s Glamour magazine. “I burst out crying. I felt Laura was there.”

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