Kylie’s cancer diagnosis in May 2005 and her hospitalization and treatment in Melbourne resulted in a brief but intense period of media coverage, particularly in Australia, where the Prime Minister John Howard issued a statement supporting her. As media and fans began to congregate outside the Minogue residence in Melbourne, the Victorian Premier Steve Bracks warned the international media that any disruption of the Minogue’s family’s rights under Australian privacy would not be tolerated. Kylie underwent surgery on 21st May 2005 at the private Catholic Cabrini Hospital and soon after, Kylie commenced chemotherapy as part of her treatment regimen.
On 8th July 2005, she made her first public appearance after her surgery, when she visited a children’s cancer ward at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital.
In December 2005, following successful treatment for her illness, Kylie related a digital-only single Over the Rainbow, a live recording from her ShowGirl Tour. During the early months of 2006, media began reporting Kylie’s upcoming projects and the general improvement in her health.
Her children’s book, The Showgilr Princess, written during her period of convalescence, was published in October 2006, and her perfume Darling was launched in November of the same year.
On 11th November 2006 Minogue resumed her
Showgilr – Homecoming Tour with a performance in Sydney, joking with the crowd that she was, after an 18 month delay,
fashionably late. She had told journalists prior to the concert that she would be highly emotional, and she cried before dedicating the song
Esepcially for You to her father, a survivor of prostate cancer. The Sydney Morning Herald described the show as an ‘extravaganza’ and ‘nothing less than a triumph’.
The following night Minogue was joined by Bono, who was in Australia as part of U2’s Vertigo tour, for the duet Kids. During her last two shows, she was joined on stage by sister Dannii Minogue for the duet, their first perfomance together since the late ’80s. On 31st December 2006 she saw in the New Year with an extra sell-out show at London’s Wembley Arena, where Dannii joined her on stage once more for the final Wembley Show, on 9th January 2007 for a surprise duet on Kids and more sibling banter at the close of the show.
In May 2007 Kylie joined the Swedish clothing company H&M and co-designed a range of swim suits and accesories entitled H&M ♥ Kylie. The range was extremely success, as was her seconf perfume, Sweet Darling. On November 26 Kylie released her tenth studio album, enigmatically called X. The album saw Minogue’s back to her roots – dance-oriented material blended with elements of electropop, produced by the most recognisable producers.
Kylie has been a high profile starlet for over 20 years and is warmly regarded in the UK as an institution, a national treasure (if an adopted one at that), part of the family almost. She has tanscented the normal levels of transient fame and can, without question, be reffered to as Kylie…ICON.
