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Kylie's people: inspired by the showgirl and the fighter
Michelle Griffin and John Bailey
10.12.2006

THEY'VE been waiting for her return for more than 18 months. For her hometown fans, Kylie Minogue is their captain, their hero, their mascot, all rolled into one - and now they have the chance to see her in the flesh in her six Melbourne concerts starting tonight.

But the best insight into Minogue's mass appeal is the breadth of her fan base.

As fairy princess Kylie, she appeals to the primary school set.

As a sleek pop diva, she wins over the gay disco boys.

And as a breast cancer victim, she inspires women who've also been treated for tumours.

Office worker Melinda McCormack, 36, used to be "a closet Kylie fan" who didn't admit to her mates that she owned, and loved, Kylie's Greatest Hits. But no longer - now she's a very public advocate for the woman she believes helped to save her life.

On May 17, 2005, McCormack switched on the TV, caught the news about Minogue's breast cancer diagnosis and realised immediately that she, too, should get the lump in her breast checked out. "If Kylie had cancer, then I realised I could get it, too," says McCormack.

Sadly, her hypothesis proved correct: McCormack had a tumour. She, too, took a year off and, with the support of her mother, started treatment.

There were some key points of difference. McCormack, who is single, did not have chemotherapy and she struggled financially to pay for her treatment. But for the next two years, McCormack followed Minogue's progress from afar.

"I wanted to talk to her about it," McCormack confesses. "Just ask her, 'How are you going? Is that treatment working out?'"

Minogue proved something of a touchstone for members of The Young Ones, a breast cancer support group for women under 45.

Many were worried, like Minogue, about the threat to their fertility. But the Kylie cancer stories and paparazzi snaps also served as a constant reminder to women going through their own treatment.

"Sometimes it brought it all back when I didn't want to remember," says McCormack. "It still does sometimes."

Two years later, McCormack, like Minogue, is in remission and getting on with her life. She missed out on Showgirl tour tickets the first time, but is still hoping she might somehow find tickets to the concert she wants to see more than ever.

"I would love to meet Kylie," says McCormack.

Minogue's beau, Olivier Martinez, isn't her first French boyfriend: Mitch Bartlett played her Parisian lover in the videoclip for her 1988 hit I Still Love You (Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi). But the 37-year-old dancer and choreographer doesn't feel he missed his chance to win her heart. Like many of Minogue's fans, he's gay. "She's marketed to the gay scene. It's gay music, it's happy music, it's camp, and gay boys like camp stuff!"

Bartlett choreographed the video for Minogue's first song, Locomotion, before "doing the rounds of Hey Hey and Countdown" and eventually accompanying the singer on two world tours. His memories of her are affectionate.

"She keeps to herself. She's quite shy, actually. She's a bit of a nana like myself."

For four years now, Bartlett has been dance captain and choreographer for 100% Kylie, a tribute show that has toured Hong Kong, New Zealand and Singapore. Last Saturday night, while his show was performing in Perth, Bartlett ran into Minogue's manager, Terry Blamey: "He said, 'What are you doing here?' I hadn't seen Terry for years, and I said, 'Oh, my God, I'm ripping off your show!'"

Blamey returned with a film crew that was documenting the singer's current tour, and Bartlett hopes Minogue has caught the tribute on tape by now. He'll be catching her show next week: 100% Kylie's star, Lucy Holmes, and musical director Derek Bailey bought Bartlett a ticket to next Sunday's performance as a gift.

Ruby Donegan knew exactly who she'd write about for her class assignment on the person who most inspires her. She may be only nine, but she says she's been a "huge, huge" Kylie fan for three years. She can't remember her first encounter with the pop star's music; Minogue has always been part of her musical landscape.

She's not going to tonight's concert. It's hard to get out of the house when you're only nine, after all. But she hopes she'll get the chance to see Minogue live one day. She's seen footage of previous concerts. "I think it's really exciting and really loud, and all the costumes are great."

Ruby frequently mentions Minogue's costumes, and it's not hard to see the appeal of all those sequins and feathers. But what has most impressed the young fan was "how she dealt with breast cancer and still went on with her Showgirl tour - It's just amazing to have such courage".

While she'd love to meet the singer, she's got no illusions as to how the encounter would turn out: "I'd be so excited, I wouldn't know what to say!"

Minogue performs in her Showgirl Homecoming tour at Rod Laver Arena until next Sunday.

Quelle: The Age

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What next for Kylie?
Daniel Ziffer and Larissa Dubecki
09.12.2006

WHERE to now for the Impossible Princess?

Tomorrow night Kylie Minogue presents Melbourne with the first of six greatest hits concerts in her Showgirl Homecoming tour.

After that there are similar stints at London and Manchester, taking her into January. But then?

The 38-year-old appears to be cementing the success of her brand, consolidating her careers as singer, actor, perfumer, underwear designer and children's book author.

But the gold hotpants are being treated with curatorial respect at Canberra's National Portrait Gallery rather than sashaying on a dance floor, and their owner is talking about no longer being up to the taxing dance routines. Minogue's post-cancer self would appear to be at a crossroads. She might, of course, be happy to settle for the title and role of "icon" - a full-time pop cultural occupation requiring little effort apart from the occasional red carpet appearance and magazine spread. But then there's her work ethic. It is severe, according to her friends and ex-boyfriend James Gooding, who after being given the heave-ho by Minogue complained bitterly to a London tabloid that she was a "virtually friendless control freak, desperate to pursue her ambitions as far as she can take them".

She's blessed with a zest for work, an ear for a catchy pop melody and a bottom that is arguably one of the wonders of the natural world, but will Minogue want to keep pushing her singing career? Or will she perform an Ian Thorpe-esque about-face and plunge into the world of Brand Minogue?

With a firm belief that she won't be content to rest on her famous posterior, The Age spoke to entertainment industry experts in pursuit of an answer to the looming question: What Kylie will do next.

Our experts agree that La Minogue has plenty of options - but it's not likely to be waiting on tables. She has a net wealth of about $55 million, according to the editor of BRW's Entertainer Rich List, James Thomson, and even in her annus horribilis, last financial year, she grossed about $19 million to be in sixth place. (The Wiggles were on top, again, hitting $50 million).

Longevity - and a healthy back catalogue - helps, says Thomson: "(Rock group) AC/DC was second on the list, with $25 million. They haven't toured since 2003 and their last album was 2000."

AC/DC sells about 3 million albums each year and has never released a greatest hits compilation, he says. Similarly, the Ultimate Kylie collection could be expected to sell 100,000 copies annually if she stopped singing tomorrow. "But really, she needs to tour to make the sort of cash she does now," he says. "You can play to 20,000 people at $90 a pop (before costs). It gives you a chance to see a lot of fans in one hit."

Minogue's underwear line Love Kylie has been reasonably successful, he says, as has her new venture in perfume, Darling. Her London-based "official Kylie shop" (www.kylieshop.com) also does a nice trade flogging everything from calendars and T-shirts to numbered lithographs and scented draw liners. RMIT marketing expert Con Stavros says he would be surprised if Minogue retired.

"Once they've reached these heights of celebrity it's rare for someone so famous to turn their back on it all. They still seem to crave the limelight and they're always looking for fame, if not fortune," he says.

"It's a question of how high-profile she wants to be. She's got such broad appeal; it cuts across old, young, male, female, gay, straight - the world's really her oyster."

While scented drawer liners have their place, it's widely held that if Minogue is to forgo her musical career it will be in pursuit of the one medium held in higher public regard than singing. "The big screen is the last frontier," Stavros says. "Music doesn't cut across as many cultures. Movies make people more marketable across the globe."

But Minogue's acting career has been plagued by unfortunate choices. It could be argued she reached her zenith in Neighbours and that subsequently, from BioDome to Streetfighter, she hasn't had the chance to shine as she does on stage. Her latest role as the voice of Florence in computer-animated film Doogal continues the trend. Based on the 1960s children's television show The Magic Roundabout, it has been critically panned, making several "worst" lists on respected film websites.

Rock historian Glenn A. Baker says it's important to remember how famous Minogue is in her adopted home of Britain.

"A few years ago we were having a conversation and she said she had reached a stage in Britain where she would always be a star - a Cilla Black or something," he says.

"The depth of affection and regard for her is something extra - you certainly get the feeling that where she leads the audience will follow. And so maybe it's time for her to pursue acting, although with better vehicles and better scripts."

The decision facing Minogue is well known to several other successful Australian women.

Elle McPherson, 42, outgrew her modelling appellation "The Body" to become a successful businesswoman. While her acting career has been slightly more successful than Minogue's - Sirens, Jane Eyre, cameos in a Batman film and several episodes of Friends - it has been similarly mocked by critics, and these days she largely confines herself to "spokesmodel" activities and her line of lingerie.

Olivia Newton-John, 58, another breast cancer survivor, similarly juggled a singing and acting career, the latter hitting the heights in Grease, the 25th highest-grossing film of all time when adjusted for inflation, before tanking with Xanadu and Two of a Kind.

Newton-John continues to record - her most recent album was last year's Stronger Than Before - and stamps her Koala Blue trademark on a range of Australian wines, confectionary and other products.

Baker sees "our Livvy" as the natural template for Minogue.

"Olivia records when she wishes to. It's an easier life she lives now, she has her environmental projects and does everything at the pace that suits her."

Showbiz reporter Peter Ford concurs, envisaging for Minogue an ongoing musical career, albeit a pared-down one. "She has wanted for some time to be allowed to mature as a performer anyway. She gave a performance in Paris about 12 months ago - she sang at a jazz club and knocked everyone's socks off," he says.

"Although there are now some physical limitations on her, they have forced her to be creative. I saw her opening night recently in Sydney and she has scaled back the dance routines but she's seen it as an opportunity to stretch herself as an artist. She's included these amazing Bollywood dance routines that require precision movements."

Celebrity agent Max Markson is another one who predicts Minogue will stick to what she does best.

"I think she'll want to continue her career. It'll have a new lease on life and I'd imagine she will go on to even bigger fame and fortune.

"She'll be keen to crack the American market, which was always in her sights. She won a Grammy there and she'll be looking for the same sort of fame there that she enjoys here and in the UK.

"Divas never have a use-by date. Barbra Streisand, Madonna, Dame Nellie Melba. They just keep going."

Kylie Minogue is performing at Rod Laver Arena.

Daniel Ziffer is The Age's entertainment reporter. Larissa Dubecki is an Age arts writer.

Quelle: The Age

---

Dannii, how's Kylie?
Sydney Confidential
07.12.2006

Dannii Minogue

EVEN when it might appear to be all about Dannii, it's really always about Kylie.

The other Minogue sister touched down in Oz this week, only to be met with a barrage of questions about Kylie's alleged love-rat boyfriend Olivier Martinez.

Looking weary after her flight from London, Dannii (pictured) said she knew nothing about reports Martinez had cheated on her big sis - preferring to talk about how glad she was to escape the London winter and that she was looking forward to Christmas with the family.

UK newspaper the Sunday Mirror printed pictures of Martinez with model Sarai Givati at the Musee D'Orsay in Paris, with Givati reportedly saying they had spent "three wonderful days and nights together''.

"Somebody mentioned it to me before I left but I haven't seen it yet,'' Dannii said offhandedly.

The Minogue sisters will be doing it for themselves when they are reunited in Melbourne on Friday.

Quelle: Daily Telegraph

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Minogue will Mia Farrow-Look behalten
06.12.2006

Kylie Minogue | Mia Farrow

Kylie Minogue denkt darüber nach, ihre Haare immer kurz zu tragen - weil sie dadurch wie Mia Farrow aussieht.

Die Haare der australischen Sängerin wachsen wieder nach, nachdem sie sich einer Chemotherapie gegen den Brustkrebs unterzogen hatte. Nun spielt die 38-Jährige, die inzwischen wieder gesund ist, mit dem Gedanken, sich nicht wieder eine lange Mähne wachsen zu lassen.

Minogue: "Eines der wenigen guten Dinge bei dem, was ich durchgemacht habe, ist, dass ich jetzt richtig dickes Haar habe. Ich muss mich entscheiden, ob ich es kurz lasse oder wachsen lasse. Einige meiner Freunde haben mir gesagt, dass es richtig gut aussah, als sie so kurz wie bei Mia Farrow waren. Vielleicht haben sie Recht."

Quelle: Nachrichten CH

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Kylie Minogue: my hair’s much thicker after chemotherapy
by HeatherHoneypot
06.12.2006

Kylie Minogue has revealed that losing her hair to chemotherapy has actually had a positive outcome - her hair is much thicker now than it used to be.

She had six months of chemotherapy treatment as well as surgery to treat breast cancer last year and told the Mail on Sunday’s You magazine recently:

"One of the few benefits of what I have been through is that I have really thick hair."

"Now I have to decide whether to keep it short or to let it grow."

"A number of my friends told me it looked so good when it was Mia Farrow-short and maybe they are right."

Quelle: Fametastic

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Geht Kylies Freund fremd?
04.12.2006

Kylie und ihre angebliche Konkurrentin, Sarai Givati.

Kylies Freund Olivier Martinez gerät ins schiefe Licht: Diverse Beobachter berichten, er hätte eine Affäre mit dem israelischen Model Sarai Givati.

Martinez war am vergangenen Wochenende mit Givati in Paris gesehen worden und hatte damit für Spekulationen gesorgt, er wäre von Minogue getrennt. Die Sängerin ist zurzeit auf Tournee in Australien, während der französische Schauspieler in Paris die Arbeiten an seinem neuen Film "Blood And Chocolate" beendet.

Kylie selbst will aber nichts von den Gerüchten wissen - obwohl ihr Freund und Givati laut mehreren Beobachtern "sehr verliebt" ausgesehen haben. Minogues Sprecher: "Kylie und Ollie sind immer noch zusammen - und sehr glücklich. Ollie ist wegen der Post-Produktion eines Films in Paris." Givati selbst hüllt sich über die angebliche Romanze in Schweigen. Givati: "Ich bin in meinem Land so bekannt, dass ich nichts sagen kann. Ich spreche nie über mein Privatleben. Ich kann nicht."

Quelle: 20min

---

KYLIE'S LOVE AND THE MODEL
Susie Boniface In Los Angeles, Grant Hodgson In Paris And Michael Duffy In Tel Aviv
03.12.2006

Olivier with another woman in Paris / Front Sunday Mirror

KYLIE Minogue's love rat boyfriend has been photographed with
a female in Paris three days in a row - while Kylie is touring
Australia.

KYLIE Minogue's lover Olivier Martinez has struck up an intimate friendship with a beautiful young model.

Stunning Sarai Givati, who is also an actress and author, flew to Paris where she spent three days with the actor in the world's most romantic city.

Handsome Martinez has not been seen in public with Kylie, 38, since October 13.

And Sarai, 24, has confided in friends how she feels a deep spiritual connection with him.

She told one pal how they spent "three wonderful days and nights together".

While she and Martinez, 40, were getting close in Paris, Kylie was on the other side of the world in Australia performing on her triumphant comeback tour.

Eyebrows were raised when Martinez missed the resumption of the tour, which had been halted last May after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Yesterday a spokesman for Kylie insisted the pop star and Martinez were still together.

But our exclusive pictures show him and Sarai smiling coyly, oblivious to their surroundings or other people, as they walk to the world-famous Mus?e D'Orsay on the Left Bank of the Seine.

At one point, Martinez took off his scarf and wrapped it tenderly around Sarai to keep out the winter cold.

She seemed relaxed by his side as he took her on a personal tour of paintings and sculptures, making a point of showing her some of his favourite pieces by Cezanne. A fellow tourist said: "They looked very close. She was hanging on his every word."

After an hour, as the museum was closing, the pair left the building with other tourists, their heads pressed together and sharing a joke.

Outside it was raining but that did not deter them from walking slowly along a shopping boulevard, laughing as they went.

At times Martinez seemed conscious of not standing too close to Sarai as they strolled along the busy street. And when the rain got too heavy, they jumped into a taxi together.

The next day, November 22, Sarai - who has starred in US TV series CSI - arrived back in Israel where she visited her family in the city of Tiberias.

Martinez's stay in Paris - and his absence from Kylie's side - has surprised the pop princess's friends, given the constant care and attention he lavished on the Australian singer throughout her 14- month battle with breast cancer.

Only last month, Kylie paid tribute to his "incredible" devotion, saying: "He is the most honourable man I have ever met.

"On particularly dark days I'd be lying on the bathroom floor wailing and he'd say, 'OK, honey, you can cry for just five minutes, then I'm taking you on a bike ride around Paris'.

"So I'd howl a bit more, then I'd find myself thinking, 'Hmm, actually a ride on the bike sounds pretty good'. Ollie was there all the time, helping with practical stuff and being protective."

So it was all the more surprising when spectacular pictures of a back-to-health Kylie, looking dazzling and more flamboyant than ever, were flashed around the world as she resumed her Homecoming tour in Sydney on November 11 - with Martinez nowhere to be seen.

Several days later he flew almost halfway to Australia to attend the Cartier Elephant Polo Cup in Jaipur, India.

Kylie's touring schedule has been specially arranged to give her at least two clear days off every week. She had no performances on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday of last week, and was also resting yesterday and today.

But Frenchman Martinez - who was last seen in public with Kylie in London seven weeks ago - has remained in Paris while the finishing touches are put to his latest film Blood and Chocolate.

Most mornings he starts the day by taking his Rhodesian ridgeback dog, Sheba, for a walk before meeting a friend for coffee in his favourite caf?, Ceres du Pres, or venturing out for a ride on his treasured American Buell motorcycle.

Friends fear his and Kylie's three-and-a-half year relationship has struggled since her recovery from cancer. One said: "For 14 months, the stark fact was that Kylie was staring death in the face. Each day was a battle, organised around chemotherapy treatment, taking rest, getting the right food and sticking to her medicine regime.

"That was the focus then but now the threat has gone it has inevitably been difficult to just wipe it from their minds and return to how things were."

Prior to the cancer, Kylie spoke of settling down and having children, but Martinez - described by ex-girlfriend Mira Sorvino as "simply not the marrying kind" - clearly was not so enthusiastic.

Asked about talk of impending marriage, he said pointedly in 2004: "I don't plan for the future. I don't even know what I am going to do tomorrow."

Kylie met Martinez in February 2003 at the Grammy awards in LA, shortly after her split from model James Gooding. She had got fed up with his playboy antics and refusal to commit.

It is an open secret that her fiercely protective parents Carol and Ron were worried a similar lack of commitment was being shown by Martinez. Their fears were fuelled in July 2003 by pictures of Martinez looking cosy with co-star Angelina Jolie on the set of the film Taking Lives.

Kylie flew to the set, in Canada, to confront him. Aides were quick to say there was no problem, but a pattern appeared to have been set.

In August 2004, he was pictured with actress Michelle Rodriguez on P Diddy's yacht in St Tropez. And in March 2005, he was photographed kissing Rodriguez outside Hollywood's exclusive Chateau Marmont hotel. To make matters worse, Rodriguez reportedly quipped to snappers: "Can't a girl spend some time with her man alone?"

Kylie's close friend, the writer Kathy Lette, gave an insight into Martinez's sexual magnetism in a magazine last month. Writing about meeting him and Kylie for drinks, she said: "When Olivier drops by to say hello, every woman in the bar is immediately swimming in a pool of her own drool. The air around him crackles with sexual heat, like a fuse burning towards a bomb. He flashes Kylie a smile so luminous you could read by it at night. And she becomes charmingly coquettish in his company."

A spokesman for Kylie insisted yesterday: "Kylie and Ollie are very much still together - and very happy. Ollie has been in Paris doing post-production of a movie."

A flustered Sarai, at home in L.A., would not discuss her relationship with Martinez. When we showed her pictures of them together she said, trembling: "Who gave you the story?" Then she added: "I'm so well known in my country that I can't say anything. I never talk about my private life, I can't. I just want to see the pictures so I will be prepared."

Last night Martinez said: "Write your bulls**t if you want."

Quelle: Sunday Mirror

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