Kylie Minogue Was Secretly Diagnosed with Cancer a Second Time in 2021, Netflix Documentary Reveals

Angel SaundersWed, May 20, 2026 at 2:54 AM UTC

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Kylie Minogue, 2024 TIME100 Gala in New York City
Credit: Cindy Ord/Getty -

Kylie Minogue opens up about why she kept her second breast cancer diagnosis private for years

The Grammy winner shares her story in her all-new Netflix docuseries, Kylie

After being treated for breast cancer in 2006, she received a second diagnosis in 2021

Kylie Minogue is speaking candidly about why she kept her second cancer diagnosis to herself in her all-new Netflix documentary.

In her three-part series, Kylie, the Australian singer-songwriter, 57, said she felt “removed from my body” as headlines circulated when she was first diagnosed with and treated for breast cancer in 2005, only for it to return in 2021.

“I was so scared of what was ahead of me,” the Grammy winner said in a teaser for the docuseries.

Kylie Minogue in 'Kylie'
Credit: Courtesy of Netflix

She also discussed why she wanted to be more private about her health the second time around.

“My second cancer diagnosis was in early 2021. I was able to keep that to myself … Not like the first time,” she said in the documentary, according to The Guardian. “Thankfully, I got through it. Again. And all is well. Hey, who knows what’s around the corner, but pop music nurtures me.”

Minogue added that her “passion for music is greater than ever.”

During the docuseries, the “Can't Get You Out of My Head” singer said there had been many times she considered finding “the right time” to share her second diagnosis with the world, such as when she returned to the public eye with the 2023 release of her hit single “Padam Padam.”

“I don’t feel obliged to tell the world, and actually I just couldn’t at the time because I was just a shell of a person,” she said.

“I didn’t want to leave the house again at one point. ‘Padam Padam’ opened so many doors for me, but on the inside I knew that cancer wasn’t just a blip in my life,” she continued. “And I really just wanted to say what happened so I can let go of it. I’d sit through interviews and every opportunity I thought, ‘Now’s the time,’ but I kept it to myself.”

Even though Minogue didn’t publicly disclose her diagnosis at the time, she still channeled it into her music.

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“Story,” which appears on the Tension album along with “Padam Padam,” was a way for “The Loco-Motion” singer to express what she was going through at the time without fully letting everyone know.

“I had a secret that I kept to myself,” she sings in the song. “Turn another page, baby take the stage.”

“I needed to have something that marked that time,” Minogue said in the documentary.

She also added that, “Making this documentary has meant looking back at so many pivotal moments in my life and this was another one.”

Kylie Minogue, Netflix documentary series 'Kylie' premiere on May 18, 2026 in London
Credit: John Phillips/Getty

Following her initial diagnosis, she underwent a lumpectomy and chemotherapy and was declared cancer-free in February 2006.

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In a 2020 interview with PEOPLE, Minogue recalled the first time she got the news.

"I remember having had my diagnosis, but the world didn't know,” she said. “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.’ ”

Kylie will be available to stream on Netflix on Wednesday, May 20.

on People

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”