Kylie Minogue kept her shock cancer revelation closely guarded until the final moments of her new documentary series – with the director revealing even he hadn’t known prior.
In her self-titled Netflix series, Minogue, 57, revealed in a bonus scene that her breast cancer had returned in 2021.
But series director Michael Harte had been kept completely in the dark throughout production, with the singer opting to disclose the shock news on the final day of filming.
Watch the video above.
“I had no clue. They talked about certain songs had certain meanings to them that the audience don’t know about,” Harte told Daily Mail
In the heart-wrenching scene, Minogue had been in discussion with trusted long-time musical collaborator Richard “Biff” Stannard regarding the hidden meaning behind a number of songs.
It was then the Padam Padam singer shockingly revealed her 2023 track Story had been inspired by her private cancer diagnosis two years prior.
READ MORE: Actor addresses rumour that’s plagued him for years
READ MORE: Comedian lucky to be alive after horror accident
READ MORE: Actor dies at 45 amid homicide investigation
The news also came as a shock to another of Minogue’s collaborators, who was present in the room at the time.
“There was, you know, one person, one of her colleagues in the recording studio, who hadn’t heard it either on the day,” Harte revealed.
He also confessed the emotional conclusion to the doco almost never came about, with the director having not initially planned to attend the studio session at all.
Harte had believed Minogue intended to use the time to complete the final touches on her latest Christmas Album – and he’d already obtained more than enough footage to complete work on the documentary.
“I had got to a point in the project where Kylie had given us some amazing interviews, and I felt like we had a lot of depth in the film, and I had kind of structured a three-part series in the edit,” he said.
“I thought we were kind of done.”
But then, he received a text from Minogue asking him to come and “hang out” – and although initially sceptical, he ultimately made the decision join her in the studio one more time.
“When I got there, and as we were recording, I remember thinking, this is nice stuff. I’m not sure what we’ll use it for. And then the conversation [about her cancer] started,” he recalled.
Speaking about her hidden cancer journey, Minogue said she was a “shell of a person” at the time she found out about the return of the deadly disease.
She’d wanted to share the news with the world once she’d recovered, and stepped back into the public eye.
“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,” she said.
