Australian pop star Kylie Minogue has revealed she kept her second cancer diagnosis private after being diagnosed again in early 2021, saying she was “just a shell of a person” at the time, according to her new Netflix documentary series.

In the three-part documentary, Kylie, the 57-year-old singer reflected on the emotional toll of her health battle and contrasted it with the intense public attention surrounding her first breast cancer diagnosis in 2005.

“My second cancer diagnosis was in early 2021. I was able to keep that to myself … Not like the first time,” Minogue said in the documentary, according to The Guardian. “Thankfully, I got through it. Again. And all is well. Hey, who knows what’s around the corner, but pop music nurtures me.”

The Grammy-winning singer said she felt “removed from my body” during her first cancer battle as media coverage intensified around her treatment and recovery.

“I was so scared of what was ahead of me,” she said in a teaser for the series.

Minogue said she considered publicly discussing the second diagnosis on several occasions, including during the release of her 2023 hit single Padam Padam, but ultimately chose not to.

“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. ‘Padam Padam’ opened so many doors for me, but on the inside I knew that cancer wasn’t just a blip in my life,” she continued. “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.”

Minogue said music became an outlet during the period. She pointed to the track Story from her 2023 album Tension as reflecting her private struggle.

“I had a secret that I kept to myself,” she sings in the song. “Turn another page, baby take the stage.”

“I needed to have something that marked that time,” Minogue said in the documentary.

She added: “Making this documentary has meant looking back at so many pivotal moments in my life and this was another one.”

Minogue was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005. She underwent a lumpectomy and chemotherapy before being declared cancer-free in February 2006.