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Kylie breast cancer battle
By Patrick Sawer, Evening Standard Last updated at 00:00am on 17.05.05
Kylie Minogue.
Kylie Minogue has breast cancer, her spokesman announced today.
She has cancelled the Australian leg of her world tour to get "immediate treatment".
Minogue, who is 37 later this month, was diagnosed with the disease while in Melbourne.
She said: "I was so looking forward to bringing the Showgirl tour to Australian audiences and am sorry to have to disappoint my fans.
"Nevertheless, hopefully all will work out fine and I'll be back with you all again soon." Her boyfriend, the French actor Olivier Martinez, is with her.
Spokesman Michael Gudinski said: "It has come as a shock to her, the world, and to her family but she is very fit. She is a fighter and hopes to be back doing what she loves sooner rather than later."
Mr Gudinski said that she had decided to stay in Melbourne to be close to her family while she has treatment.
The news was broken by the singer's production company in Sydney where her tour was due to start on Thursday.
A spokesman said: "Whilst at home in Melbourne with her family this week, Kylie was diagnosed with early breast cancer. She will undergo immediate treatment and consequently her Australian tour will not be able to proceed as planned."
Minogue had been scheduled to tour Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth over the next month.
She has been dogged by rumours about her health and appears to have gone public with the breast cancer diagnosis in an attempt to end speculation. Evening Standard GP Mark Porter said she was very unlucky to have developed breast cancer so young as only two per cent of all breast cancers in the UK affect women aged 36 or under.
He said: "Despite popular belief that younger women fare much worse than older women, the prognosis is comparable. It will depend on the type of tumour and how advanced it is.
"In women 36 and under, six or seven out of 10 will make a full and complete recovery."
But Dr Porter added that younger patients tend to have slightly more aggressive or slightly more advanced tumours. He said her risk would be determined by her family history.
Death rates from breast cancer have fallen in the last 10 years thanks mainly to improvements in early detection.
A spokesman for Cancer Research UK said: "The good news is that survival rates for breast cancer have never been higher. We wish Kylie all the best for her forthcoming treatment."
The causes of breast cancer are not yet completely understood but the risk of developing it increases with age. More than half of breast cancers occur in women over 65.
The aim of treatment for early breast cancer is to remove the cancer from the breast and armpit area and to destroy any cancer cells that may have spread to other parts of the body but cannot be detected.
The singer has worked to raise money for breast cancer over recent years and has regularly helped publicise Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
One of her skimpiest bras was sold at auction for £2,400 three years ago for Breast Cancer Care. Minogue had been due to headline at the Glastonbury Festival next month.
After appearing in Neighbours at 19 as Charlene with Jason Donovan, she went on to have a string of pop hits after I Should Be So Lucky in 1988.
Minogue has dated Donovan, Lenny Kravitz and Michael Hutchence. Hutchence was later found dead in a hotel room. He is credited with giving Minogue the sex appeal she lacked in her TV soap image of the girl next door.
He is reported to have said on their first date: "I don't know what we should do first... have lunch or have sex."
Asked about Hutchence's death she said: "I think of him all the time. I feel him watching over me very strongly sometimes."
