Kylie Minogue on how fame impacted her mental health: ‘I had that, I lived that’

Kylie Minogue has opened up on how she navigated global fame and its direct effect on her mental health.

The singer, who is the latest cover star of Rolling Stone UK, explained how a renewed focus and modern perspective on mental health means is now easier for artists to navigate such issues.

“What I think is great for a lot of people now is that there’s a discussion about mental health and the toll [fame] can take on people, I had that, I lived that,” she said.

As well as her own mental health, Minogue explained how she was always mindful of how global fame would impact her own family too.

“I was able to manage that myself and with my family and close friends and navigate those waters. It wasn’t a decision [to stay private], it was a reaction to protect myself and to protect my family because they would go through it with you,” Minogue said.

Asked about the secret to keeping her public life separate from her private life, she responded: ““It takes common sense. It takes some work, and it takes some sacrifice.

“I can really go from doing a full kind of blitz of doing it all and then stop and recalibrate.”

But through it all, Minogue added, is the desire to keep pushing forward.

“Sometimes [a long break] crosses my mind,” she said. “but it’s fairly fleeting.”

“There’s a song that hasn’t been written yet,” she added. “‘Padam Padam’ didn’t exist a year ago. I guess the ultimate seduction or challenge is to create that three and a half minutes of transformative magic. You want to try and keep getting that high [of] affecting someone positively.”

The Princess of Pop will release her latest album Tension on September 22 and our latest issue also sees the singer going deep on the record’s genesis. The star opens up about the importance of protecting her own privacy, owning her pop icon status and why she’s ready for her Las Vegas residency.

“I’m happiest when I feel like I’ve expressed some deep emotion or thoughts that I’m struggling with and it’s like talking with a friend. Speaking your truth is helpful,” she says of the process of making music. “When I am able to do that, I like to almost paint it instead of just spilling it out. I like to have some poetry with it to not be entirely obvious.”

It comes as she gears up to launch her Las Vegas residency in November at at Voltaire nightclub at The Venetian.

“I’ve performed a couple of times at Vegas, but as part of a tour, and particularly when I did the Showgirl tour in 2004 – at that time we said, ‘oh, this feels like a Vegas show,’” she previously explained at a news conference in Los Angeles.

‘Padam Padam’, the lead single off Tension, reached number eight on the UK chart, making it her first top ten hit since ‘All the Lovers’ in 2010. She is expected to tour UK arenas in 2024.

Buy Kylie’s issue of Rolling Stone UK here, on news stands from September 14.