Kylie: 'You Magazine' UK Interview

Kylie Minogue is pottering around her manager’s West London offices wearing a red heart-print dress from Stefano Pilati’s latest Yves Saint Laurent collection, a pair of high black satin YSL shoes and gold Dolce & Gabbana earrings that make her look more youthful and gamine than ever. In fact, the Australian beauty looks at least a decade younger than her 43 years – with no visible signs of any cosmetic work. Next year Kylie, who has sold more than 68 million records worldwide, celebrates 25 years as a recording artist. Somehow she has also found the time to create her glamorous new Kylie Minogue at Home bedlinen collection. She has been dating Spanish model Andres Velencoso, 33, for nearly three years and they divide their time between their homes in London and Tossa de Mar in Spain.

For a long time I felt as though I was living in a stranger’s body, but now I feel more myself. Nearly seven years have passed since I was diagnosed with breast cancer, and there is no way I am going to have the body that I had before I was diagnosed. I am off Tamoxifen [the anti-oestrogen cancer-treating drug] now, and I did worry at first that my safety net had been taken away. Tamoxifen is unpleasant, but you don’t mind something making you feel rotten if it’s what you need. But I feel good now.

I need to feel free, to know I can move on to new things, that there are options. I hate that
archaic view that you can only do one thing. I never understood, way back when I was in Neighbours, why some people thought I couldn’t move from acting to singing.


I’m not sure that my relationship with Andres is the most grown-up one I have had, but then I’m not sure what ‘grown up’ actually means. All I know is that we feel very at ease with each other and have done so since we met three years ago. We are both busy people, but we try to be together as much as we can because we realise that if you leave it too long without seeing each other you are doomed. Andres came on tour with me as often as he could, which was brilliant, and he has been with me on and off in London since then. My Spanish is dreadful, but Andres speaks very good English.

My ‘gay husband’ and creative collaborator William Baker and I having been going to a lot of West End shows – it’s research for the musical we have been talking about doing for ages. We don’t know what it’s going to be called yet, but we are working on the story line, and it’s good to get out and see who’s doing what, which stage designer you like, which lighting designer – it’s been so enjoyable. If this is work, bring it on!

The picture I have on Twitter was taken when I was about seven in Wantirna, a suburb of Melbourne, by one of my uncles. He’s a cameraman, as is another uncle and my brother Brendan – there is a strong visual sense in my genes. I think it comes from my nain (pronounced ‘nine’), my Welsh maternal grandmother – she has a great eye.

Nain is 91 and still full of fun and life. She came to one of the Aphrodite shows in Melbourne and we lost her. We were all saying, ‘Where’s Nain?’ and eventually we found her with my band, chatting, flirting and having a drink with them. She’s my idol.

Don’t get me started talking about my nephews… My brother Brendan’s son Charlie is five now and his little brother James is two, and Dannii’s boy Ethan is one. They all came to see the show when we were in Melbourne and I could see them from the stage. I kept looking over to see if they were still there – halfway through, James couldn’t cope and was asleep in my dressing room. Ethan was swaying on his father Kris’s shoulders – he stayed for maybe five numbers – and it was wonderful.

I hate the question, ‘So, are you going to have children?’ But amazingly I have never had it from my mum or dad. They never put pressure on any of us. For a while it looked as if it would never happen for us all and then boom, boom, boom. The only answer I have is, ‘If it happens for me – beautiful.’ I’ll have to wait and see. I love children and I love the thought of having a family. And Andres is really good with kids.

My dream is to have a house in the country with lots of dogs, but my problem is where? Australia, because that’s where my family is and I don’t get there as much as I would like, or Spain, because my boyfriend is based there? I bought my London house when Andres and I were already going out together, so it is our place. I’ll have been away a lot, so there is still work that needs to be done, but I enjoy the fact that it isn’t finished.


When Andres travels all he takes is two pairs of jeans, two shirts, simple. I, on the other hand, lug all my stuff around in my pink roadie cases. It’s the same at home: he likes to keep it simple, I don’t. When I finished the tour this time and came back to my house in London, I was really, really thankful and I thought, ‘This is home.’

Bed should be a place for just two things – love and sleep. I have actually become a better sleeper than I used to be by doing the things you should do in bed rather than the things you shouldn’t, such as being on my laptop or watching TV. I love making beds with fresh linen – either from my At Home range or vintage – but I hate hospital corners. I like to be able to pull things around me.

Food is a huge shared pleasure for Andres and me. We ate at elBulli (the three-Michelin-star Catalonian restaurant) a week before it closed at the end of July. We had been talking about it since we met. Food is one of our things. At home we will be making lunch and talking about what we will have for dinner. Andres does more cooking than I do but I am a great assistant in the kitchen.

I always like to be busy. When I’m not working my relaxation is organising my wardrobes. My brother has this running joke when he will say, ‘Are you playing in your cupboards today?’ Taking things out, sorting them into piles, I love it; I can switch off and relax. And I like to get the secateurs out in the garden. I suddenly think, ‘I am my mum!’ She goes crazy out there and Dad says, ‘Oh God, she’s hacking everything to pieces again.’ That’s me, too.

I would be mortified if I was photographed trying to drive off the first tee on a golf course. I’m a fair-weather golfer and my progress has stalled recently. I have maintained from the start – since Andres persuaded me to take up the game about two years ago – that a lot of golf courses are attached to beautiful hotels with spas so there are options: you don’t have to be out in freezing winter weather. But Andres is passionate about the game and we would love to do a charity tournament together, although hopefully my role would be strictly on the putting green.

Dannii and I are very close. We have that sisterly thing where if something is wrong with either of us it doesn’t just annoy you, it hurts you. There is great love between us and my brother – we have been raised that way.

One of the strongest memories I have from childhood is playing with my brother and sister in our stand-up rubber pool. We would do whirlies and then race out on to the baking hot pavements and lie there, and then jump back in the pool again. And Dannii and I loved make-believe games, particularly playing shops with real money – it was very serious business.

Now I’m that person who is always covered in sunscreen. My look has always been pale and interesting and I have just discovered that I am a bit deficient in vitamin D, which we can mostly get from exposing our skin to the sun. Andres is always telling me to get a little bit of sun on my body and I did on a recent trip to Ibiza, but not on my face.

I have to just get on with ageing. What can I do? In some ways growing older can be fantastic – in others not so. But it’s not even worth pondering it that much because we are lucky to be here and that’s it.

I haven’t had my natural hair colour since I was 16, but right now I have made it less blonde, and I have to say I am enjoying being darker.


Can’t get these out of my head ...

Favourite iPhone app Mind Snacks Spanish — a fun way to learn a language.
Current iPod playlist ‘Heaven’ by Emeli Sandé; ‘Save the World’ by Swedish House Mafia, and ‘Bounce’ by Calvin Harris featuring Kelis.
Musical inspiration Freddie Mercury, Madonna, Robyn and all things pop.
Clothes shop Bon Marché, Paris.
Accessories A Chyc Cabas handbag by Yves Saint Laurent.
Currently reading Batavia by Peter Fitzsimons.
Style icon Carine Roitfeld, the former editor of Vogue Paris.
Make-up Umbrian Clay Freshface Foundation and Face Lustre powder.
TV Have I Got News For You

I SHOULD FEEL SO SLEEPY ...

Go to bed when you are feeling tired and not when you think you should.
Don’t eat too late — difficult when you are dating a Spaniard.
Try not to have any caffeine after noon.
Run a hot bath with oil and scented candles to relax you before you turn in.
Exercise — if you have done nothing physical all day it’s much harder to sleep.
Make your bed a place of refuge with lovely linen, throws and cushions.
Relax — you’ll sleep better the less you stress.
Banish TVs, computers, iPads and mobile phones from the bedroom.


There is an inherent insecurity in all performers, when you think, ‘I’m going to be exposed for the fraud I am.’ But I feel this is what I am meant to do.

I still get frazzled on the red carpet. I get so nervous that I start to shake. All these people clamour to talk to you, to photograph you – it’s stressful.

The name Kylie in English means straight and channelled, but its Aborigine meaning is curved or boomerang. And I do keep coming back…

By JANE GORDON dailymail.co.uk