LONDON — Pop star Kylie Minogue revealed in a new Netflix documentary that she was privately diagnosed with cancer for a second time in early 2021. The three-part documentary, titled Kylie and directed by Michael Harte, marks the first time she has discussed the diagnosis publicly.

"My second cancer diagnosis was in early 2021. I was able to keep that to myself," Minogue said in the documentary. "Thankfully, I got through it. Again. And all is well."

Minogue was 57 years old at the time of the second diagnosis, which followed a routine check up. She had first been diagnosed and successfully treated for breast cancer in May 2005, when she was 36. She canceled the remainder of her Showgirl greatest hits tour and withdrew from her Sunday headline slot at the Glastonbury festival's Pyramid stage that year to undergo treatment in Melbourne. After her 2005 treatment, she was given the all-clear, and in 2008 she said her initial cancer diagnosis had been incorrect.

She said in the documentary that she had struggled to find the right moment to disclose the 2021 diagnosis. "I don't feel obliged to tell the world, and actually I just couldn't at the time because I was just a shell of a person," she said. "I didn't want to leave the house again at one point," Minogue said.

She continued recording and performing in the years that followed. Her 2023 single Padam Padam returned her to the UK singles Top 10 for the first time since 2010 and won a Grammy for Best Pop Dance Recording. Her 2023 song Story, from the album Tension, refers to her private cancer battle. "I needed to have something that marked that time," she said.

Reflecting on the period after the second diagnosis, she said: "Padam Padam opened so many doors for me but on the inside I knew that cancer wasn't just a blip in my life. And I really just wanted to say what happened so I can let go of it. I'd sit through interviews and every opportunity I thought, 'now's the time', but I kept it to myself."

The documentary features interviews with her sister Dannii Minogue and former duet partners Jason Donovan and Nick Cave. "Early detection was very helpful and I am so grateful to be able to say that I am well today," Minogue said.