I switched X Factor life for hanging with Kylie on a farm – without lashes we look homeless, says Dannii Minogue
POP’S most famous sisters delighted legions of LGBT fans with their first onstage reunion in eight years recently at Sydney’s World Pride.
But according to Dannii Minogue, she and Kylie weren’t always the best of friends.
Asked if the superstar siblings clashed in their youth, she says: “We did fight.
“I think you have to”, before adding that prior to finding fame in the Eighties, they still got on “most of the time”.
A few weeks ago the two had performed a dazzling duet of Kylie’s 2010 hit All The Lovers to kick off the 17-day festival in Australia — rocking sparkling bodysuits.
But much as they love the glitter and glitz, Dannii, 51, and Kylie, 54, also enjoy shedding it to hang out in old tattered clothes on their family farm in Melbourne.
The former X Factor judge — who had hits with Put The Needle On It and I Begin To Wonder in the early 2000s — says taking a break from her pristine pop star image is important.
Dannii reveals: “The minute we step on the farm, Kylie and I have clothes that are old, they’ve got holes in them . . . we won’t let go of them.
“We look homeless. And that feels so good after all the lashes and make-up and heels and hair — which we love, but it’s that balance, because it’s so extreme what we do on stage.”
She moved back to Australia in 2011, after 22 years of living in London, because she wanted to raise son Ethan, now 12, near her family.
“I just wanted that pod feeling,” she says. “I didn’t know what the hell I was doing so I wanted to be near Mum.”
The following year she split with Ethan’s father, former rugby player Kris Smith, 44, and is now dating music producer Adrian Newman.
She says mentoring acts on The X Factor — which she won in 2007 with Leon Jackson and in 2010 with Matt Cardle — instilled a maternal instinct and made her want to be a mum.
Dannii says: “I’m kind of tough love — all my contestants know I’ll say it how it is but I’m here to mother you.
“And I had never thought of being a mum.
“It was through that experience of this mentoring that I thought, ‘I love this.’
“I love putting energy into someone and seeing them blossom.
“And who would’ve thought? I never thought I’d be in the job — and I never thought that would unlock that feeling for me.
“And here I am, a mum, and I love it.”
But Dannii has fond memories of living in south London, where she returned to promote her new gay dating show I Kissed A Boy, which launches on BBC Three on Sunday.
“It’s so bizarre being back here,” she admits.
“I went by my old hood, I used to live in Battersea, and Battersea Park was my favourite place.
“I can’t imagine living here now, but when I lived here I couldn’t imagine leaving,” she tells fellow pop star Jessie Ware on the podcast Table Manners.
“I was here 22 years.”
During that time, she became friends with an older neighbour called Jo, who she would regularly drink champagne and “be fabulous” with.
Dannii reveals: “I had the most lovely neighbour — she was the most important to me. She was a lot older than I was.
“We were on the ninth floor, and I used to volunteer to get out and clean the windows, and she was like: ‘This is bizarre, you’re on X Factor and you’re cleaning my windows.’
“And I’m like, ‘I’m cleaning mine, I’m going to come and clean yours.’”
They were so close Dannii even gave Jo a key to her home, and says her friend helped her deal with the stress of starring on the UK’s biggest TV show at the time.
She recalls: “I’d get back from X Factor at, say, 1am sometimes and she’d put a little tray in my fridge with a glass of wine poured, sandwiches beautifully made.
“She loved cooking and when her husband passed away, who I was also very good friends with, she adopted me.
“She had no kids or grandkids.
“We’d love to share champagne and look out at the view of London and it could be any time of day and we’d just pop champagne and be fabulous.
“She had a mink coat and I’d say, ‘Go and get the mink coat!’ Put it on, we’re drinking champagne, celebrating nothing.”
Asked if Jo is still alive, Dannii replies: “She is but she doesn’t remember me anymore now.
“But cheers to Jo — she always loved a champagne.”
But now Dannii returns to our screens for I Kissed A Boy, the first gay dating show in British television history.
On the ground-breaking programme, she says: “We’re just opening the door.
“You can think whatever you think of the show, you can judge it, be the couch judge, scream at the TV, love it, hate it, whatever — just watch it, because this is a first.
“I was learning so much stuff during the show that I came up with my drag queen name while we were on set.
“She’s Scottish . . . she’s Mor-gay By-the-day. I was getting more gay by the day.
“You’re going to know stuff that you had no idea about before watching this show.
“There are things that just come up in conversation and what I love is they’re not explained because this is made for the gay community — and it’s about time.”