Kylie Queen of the World

by Julie Aspinall

  17

  Comeback Kylie – Again

  Although she was out of the woods now, Kylie was aware of both the effort it would take to go back on stage again, and the fact that it was still possible the cancer might return. ‘I’ve got a mountain to climb, but I don’t fancy hanging around the bottom of the mountain,’ she said. ‘I’m not sure I’ll be able to do everything I did before. No more quick changes. We’ll have slow changes and maybe even a little chair backstage. I’m not like this all the time. It’s no picnic and I’m still going through it. It’s not like, “Hey, it’s over.” I still have medical treatments. I still have check-ups. I’m aware and I do all the things I’m supposed to do to stay on top of things. Had I not discovered [the cancer] until a little later the story might have been very different. I was saved, I really was.’

  Very tellingly, the moment in the interview in which Kylie is finally moved to tears is the thought that the cancer might have put paid forever to her professional career.

  But it hadn’t. The warmth with which Kylie was welcomed back was phenomenal. When dates were announced for her resumed Showgirl tour, tickets were sold out for the London dates in six minutes – and the organizers had to arrange a further two shows. Kylie, clearly rather overwhelmed, posted a message on her website. ‘I wanted to let you all know that I am totally overwhelmed by the ticket sales today for my Wembley shows in January,’ it read. ‘Thank you all so much for your loyalty and make sure you have your dancing shoes ready for the concerts, love to you all Kylie. x’

  ‘The demand for Kylie is absolutely phenomenal and these are the fastest selling shows I have ever experienced,’ said her spokesman Dave Chumbley. ‘It will be fantastic to see Kylie back on stage again.’

  Kylie’s frankness about her illness and how it had affected her had touched a good many hearts, be they existing fans, fellow cancer sufferers or merely people who were touched by what she had been through. It had been draining, but there was an indication of the fact that Kylie was returning to her old self, she actually suggested a night on the tiles of the type she hadn’t been used to for some time now. ‘After I interviewed Kylie about her breast cancer ordeal I thought she would be feeling emotionally drained and wanting to go straight home,’ said Cat. ‘In fact, she said to me, “OK, let’s go home first Cat.” Then she was like, “Oh, get changed, because we are going out to dinner and I am determined to wear my diamonds.” So the pair of us got dolled up to the nines, put on our best sparklers and went to Mr Chow’s Chinese restaurant in Knightsbridge. It was great because the paparazzi did not see us coming to such a local restaurant and we weren’t disturbed. I’m glad because I think Kylie really desperately needed that little bit of peace and quiet. So, there we were, just two girls, ridiculously over-dressed, and we just could not stop laughing. We ate loads and talked about really normal things like the weather and fashion. I’d say it was the very moment Kylie got back her sparkle.’

  And as Kylie’s appearances in public became more frequent, so she seemed to exult in being able to go out and live it up once more. Appearing at the premiere of Brasil Brasiliero in London at the Sadler’s Wells theatre, she couldn’t resist a quick twirl to the music herself. It cheered her and everyone present up, while sending out a definite message: I’m back.

  And once she’d got started, it seemed impossible to calm her down. Her next appearance, and the first she made on stage since being diagnosed with cancer, was at the Edinburgh Festival. It was at a performance of Havana Rumba! on the Edinburgh Fringe: the show’s producer, Toby Gough, pulled her on the stage to join in, despite the best efforts of a bouncer who didn’t recognize her. Kylie was in town to support Finding Marina, a show she helped to finance, which was performed by Sri Lankan children who had lost everything after the dreadful Boxing Day tsunami in 2004. ‘I had drunk two bottles of rum on my own,’ said Toby the next day. ‘It was a wild night. The audience was going crazy. We always ask her to come and see the shows, but we didn’t know it was going to be last night. The audience was going crazy.’

  They did indeed. Kylie was dressed relatively modestly compared to what she usually wore on stage, namely jeans, a pink and white top and a black hat, but she nearly brought the house down. ‘It appears no one noticed Kylie in the audience and it was a shock to see her on stage,’ said spokesman Andrew Neilson. ‘She looked fantastic – it was obvious she enjoyed herself. But she almost did not make it as the stage manager was not going to let her on at first.’

  Indeed, Kylie was looking so fantastic that everyone around her could hardly believe it. Her health certainly looked to have returned and she was simply so happy to be out there again that her happiness was contagious. Kevin Murphy, her hairdresser, was also struck by how vibrant she appeared.

  ‘Kylie’s illness has dramatically changed her,’ he said. ‘It’s like she’s been reborn – now she loves life. She was tired before. There was always a team of people around her. She’s actually separated herself from all that by going to live in France. She’s got a few houses here and there but she’s learning to speak French and has chosen to live in Paris permanently with her partner, Olivier Martinez. She can live a normal life there. She doesn’t have to live like a pop star. She’s lived her entire life in front of the camera and what she enjoys now is simple pleasures. She loves to pop down the shops, whip round a boutique and then have a cup of tea at home.’

  In fact, it was beginning to seem as if the cancer, initially so devastating, had given Kylie a whole new lease of life. It had certainly provided her with the opportunity to sit back and assess her life for the first time in years. Under normal circumstances – or what could be called normal for Kylie – life was always absolutely frenetic and now, despite the difficult circumstances surrounding it, she had been forced to think about how she really wanted to run her life.

  ‘When I saw her a few weeks ago, I was amazed,’ said Kevin. ‘I said, “This is the best you’ve looked for eight years.” It’s like a rebirth. She’s been pretty thin in the past but at the moment she’s a bit plump. She’s getting a lot of pleasure from her food. She’s beginning to enjoy red wine too, which she never used to. We’d go out for dinner and I’d end up finishing hers because she would only ever have one glass. But now she’s started to drink good, expensive red wine. She’s not a lush, she’s just likes it. I’m sure it’s Olivier and the French influence because they love life. Before the cancer, Kylie was a workaholic. When you work all the time, it’s hard to maintain your health. Now she’s relaxing and the extra weight helps her look younger. Her complexion is a really nice pale pink colour, like peaches and cream.’

  Kevin was certainly in a good position to tell. He and Kylie had been working together for years now, both home and on tours, as he explained when talking about her magnificent wigs. ‘You just stick them on, it’s much easier when she goes on stage,’ he said. ‘She has fine, delicate hair. It’s dry because it’s got colour in it. Her natural colour is dark blonde. She likes to be strawberry blonde.

  ‘When I last saw her, her hair had just grown back after the chemotherapy. It has given her a new look. I told her not to grow it long. It looks fantastic short, it really suits her. It’s the best she’s looked in years. It’s just so fresh, it makes her look more petite. Long hair was dragging her down a little. Now she looks modern and natural. When I told her I really liked it short, she said, “Maybe I won’t grow it then.”’

  Like some others of her acquaintance, though, including Elle Macpherson, Kevin admitted that he had found Kylie’s cancer hard to deal with. ‘I’m scared of people who get ill,’ he said. ‘I tend to run for cover and don’t quite know what to say. When I heard, I sent her a little box of really dumb things like hand cream and a gold chain. I didn’t really know how to cope, to tell you the truth. I always had this thing in my mind that she was invincible. She’s absolutely fine now and I am overjoyed. I’m sure she’s still got to be a bit careful but when I saw her she was as right as rain. We talk
over email and on the telephone and catch up over a cup of tea when we get the chance.’

  Elle, incidentally, also went on the record about the fact that she was sorry she hadn’t been in touch. ‘It is one of my biggest regrets that when I heard Kylie had been diagnosed with cancer, I didn’t pick up the phone and call her right away,’ she said. ‘I do know her. We’ve been in the same circles for years. I assumed she’d have family and closer friends around her. You don’t want to intrude. I feel so guilty about that now because she could probably have done with as much support as possible. Sometimes we shy away from grief or difficult situations but I’ve learned a lesson with Kylie.’

  Kevin, meanwhile, like so many others, was quick to point out that Kylie’s relationship with Olivier was going from strength to strength, pouring scorn on any comments that he might still be a bit of a womaniser. ‘Olivier is a dream,’ he said. ‘He stood by her the whole way. If you are a womaniser, you’d be looking for a way out, but he was there all the time. They’re always cuddling, laughing and joking around. He’s not bothered by fashion, he’s a real man. We were talking about hair products and he told me he’d been using something he thought was a face moisturiser for a month – before Kylie pointed out to him that it was for hair!’

  Towards the end of July, Kylie’s book, Showgirl Princess, was launched. Kylie made a personal appearance at Puffin, her publishers, on the Strand in London, at a talk for buyers, the people who put in orders for the books for bookshops. Wayne Winstone from Ottaker, was very impressed. ‘She was friendly, charming and down-to-earth,’ he said. ‘I asked her if she would do signings in Basildon and Croydon. I was trying to think of locations that contrasted with her lifestyle. She said she would be more than happy.’

  The book, as its title implied, told the story of a girl called Kylie who, with a little help from her stylists and friends, turns into, you guessed it a showgirl princess. It was full of pictures by William Baker, and though it was aimed at children, it was widely expected that adult fans would show some interest, too. ‘It’s not autobiographical, although Kylie does draw on her experiences,’ said a spokesperson for Puffin. ‘The book is for little girls who dream of dressing up and going on stage and it’s written in a tone that’s suitable for children. The main character just happens to be Kylie.’

  ‘It’s a wonderful book which will appeal to little princesses everywhere who love to have fun!’ said Jane Richardson, senior editor at Puffin, who along with managing director Francesca Dow visited Kylie in Paris.

  And it also helped to take her mind off her illness. ‘It was something different that wasn’t physically challenging which I could do at that time’, she said. ‘I couldn’t do anything else, but I could – if I felt up to it – sit at my computer and work on the book. A lot of it was done by email. The illustrator was in New York and she would send me her ideas and then I would send her back my thoughts and then we would add other images and polish it until it was perfect’. This was some work ethic – even if Kylie couldn’t get out there physically as she had done before, she still managed to find a project to keep her mind off what she was going through.

  Kylie had also become very attached to Sheeba, Olivier’s puppy – and vice versa. ‘Oh, don’t get me started on Sheeba,’ she said. ‘When I met Olivier in Los Angeles he was with Sheeba. At first, she was a little resistant to the idea of there being another woman in Olivier’s life.

  There was an incident when she took a shoe from my wardrobe and chewed it to bits, but it was just a territorial thing – the kind of thing that happens when there are two women in a man’s life. Now she’s based in Paris and we are devoted to each other. She even came to the Chanel show with me earlier this year. She was very important during my treatment – there were many long hugs during that time.’

  Indeed, as well as being a time of reflection, Kylie’s illness had brought her closest relationship into sharp focus. Although she had always had a very strong relationship with both parents, this, if anything, strengthened the bond still further. ‘My relationship with my parents has always been close,’ she said. ‘My mother, in particular, has always been more like a friend to me. But when I was diagnosed, it was like they needed to be my mother and father again, not my friends. It was as if I was a little girl to them again. I was so lucky to have my mum with me in Paris throughout my treatment. I don’t know how I would have got through that without her.’

  By this time, Kylie was back in full swing. She launched a 2007 diary, full of quite stunning pictures of her, and was now regularly seen in a series of ever more extravagant evening gowns to show off her newly healthy appearance. Her popularity, if anything, soared still further in the time she was away, and, as if to emphasise this, she was named as one of top 15 most influential pop stars of the last 25 years, in a poll to mark music channel MTV’s own 25th anniversary.

  Bono came very top of the list, followed by Michael Jackson and Madonna, while the other stars named included Kurt Cobain, Prince, Eminem, Kylie Minogue, Snoop Dogg, Justin Timberlake, Sir Elton John, Beyonce Knowles, Robbie Williams, Pete Doherty, Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears. It was a very prestigious list to be part of.

  She was now also ready to talk about the new album, on which she had teamed up with the Scissor Sisters. ‘When I went back into the studio I was very nervous, but it was very good to discover that everything was still working,’ she said. ‘I hadn’t sung for more than a year and it was reassuring to know that nothing had changed.’

  But something had. Kylie’s own level of self awareness, of what her career meant to her, but also of what her relationships and other aspirations were, had gone through a profound period of reflection. Kylie had tackled a dreadful time with courage, vivacity and style. Her return to centre stage was greeted with a kind of rapture by her fans, and with goodwill almost unprecedented towards any other figure in show business. Kylie, showgirl extraordinaire, was back – and towards the end of 2006, the Showgirl Tour hit the road again.

  Indeed, the start of 2007 seemed to be the start of a new era for Kylie. She celebrated the New Year in spectacular style, performing in front of thousands at Wembley Arena. ‘I’m as prepared as I can be, but I’m not sure that I’ll be able to do everything I did before,’ she said. ‘Not that I do an enormous amount of jumping all over the stage, but quick changes are stressful.’ In the event the performance, which Kylie described as the ‘biggest party of all’, was an enormous success. She might have found costume changes stressful, but she still managed six of them, at one stage covered in pink feathers, as she performed in front of 12,000 fans. ‘This show is a dedication to all of you for your support and encouragement always,’ she told the crowd. ‘I’m thrilled that you’re spending New Year with me. This show was a last minute decision but it’s been worth it.’

  This concert was to be the first of a number of new dates in Britain: meanwhile, the Kylie machine swang back into action. She toppled Kate Moss to be named as Glamour magazine’s world’s best dressed woman, saw Madame Tussauds unveil its fourth waxwork after her (only the Queen has had more) and prepared for a Kylie exhibition to open at the Victoria and Albert Museum in February. However, concerns remained that she was taking on too much too soon, not least when she was forced to quit the stage halfway through a performance in Manchester, the first time in her career that had happened. It was blamed on a bout of the flu and she resumed touring shortly afterwards.

  But drama never seemed to be far from Kylie’s life and, just as she appeared to be getting much better in other respects, it was announced that she and Olivier had split up. Rumours had been circulating for some time that all was not well, not least as Olivier had been spotted with other women, but now, in early February, the split became official.

  It was not what had been expected only a couple of months previously. ‘Ollie was there all the time, helping with the practical stuff and being protective,’ Kylie had said in an interview with Elle. ‘I don’t like to say too much in publi
c about Olivier as he’s a very private person, but I will say that he was incredible. He didn’t hesitate in cancelling work and putting projects on hold so he could be with me. He’s the most honourable man I have ever met.’ But even then she had denied reports that they would marry. ‘I understand the excitement at the prospect of a wedding, but we’re simply happy together and getting on with life,’ she’d said.

  Initially there were reports, immediately denied, that Kylie was returning to her family in Australia. The two then put out a statement, calling reports of Olivier’s womanising, ‘lies’. ‘They remain very close friends,’ it went on. ‘They have made it clear that the decision to go their separate ways was mutual and amicable.’

  However, Olivier had been spotted with other women. Firstly, he had been pictured kissing the actress Michelle Rodriguez in Hollywood, and there were also rumours of an affair with the Israeli model Sarai Givati. Indeed, she’d been pictured entering his hotel suite. Behind the scenes, friends were saying that Kylie had finally had enough, not only because of the other women but because they couldn’t agree about the future.

  ‘Kylie has admitted their relationship has been at breaking point for some time, but last week’s pictures were the final straw,’ said a friend. ‘They’ve been arguing over her plans to start a family. Because of her breast cancer, Kylie feels the best way is through adoption, but Olivier refused. He still feels he can be a natural father to his children and refused to entertain her talk of adoption. To Kylie that was heartbreaking. She wants her man to feel the same way that she does about children. Eventually she couldn’t take it any more. She is sick of reading about his liaisons with other beautiful women. Although Olivier denies he was cheating, she was becoming paranoid and feels she has lost all trust. Her cancer ordeal taught her that life is too short to waste on bad feelings and they spent too much time arguing.’