Kylie Minogue has blamed her role as Charlene Robinson in Neighbours for the reason the public are always so interested in her love life.
The 55-year-old chart topping star played charismatic mechanic Charlene in the iconic Aussie soap from 1986 until 1988 - and reprised her role in 2022 for the last ever episode of the show. During her time on the series, Kylie’s character fell for Jason Donovan’s Scott Robinson with the characters tying-the-knot - with the couple falling for each other off-screen too and enjoying a romance from 1984 until 1989.
In the years since, Kylie - who has never married - has enjoyed a number of high profile romances with famous men including late INXS singer Michael Hutchence, American singer Lenny Kravitz, French actor Olivier Martinez and Spanish model Andres Velencoso. Kylie most recently dated GQ magazine employee Paul Solomons from 2018 until earlier this year.
In a new interview with Vogue Australia, Kylie has thought back over her romances and how her love life has captured the attention of her fans, admitting she finds it overwhelming that people are so fascinated about who she is dating. She told the glossy magazine: “I’ve often wondered if a lot of that started with the fact that I was ‘Scott and Charlene’ or ‘Kylie and Jason’.
“Because it seems slightly disproportionate to me, or someone like Jennifer Aniston, where [public interest] is disproportionate to the other stuff you do. Yes, there’s a level of acceptance that that’s the way it is, and I think mostly it’s driven by, we all love a bit of gossip. It’s kind of like, what would’ve happened over the fence forever ago.
Kylie Minogue celebrates New Year's Eve with performance in Dubai hotel“But it would be great to move on from the ‘she’s lucky in love, she’s unlucky in love’, because it’s just not that simple.” Kylie went on to clarify that she appreciates her fans take an interest as they want her to be happy.
She said: “When it’s good, it’s well-meant, good intentions,” she says, and pauses again for a moment, before her voice pipes up. “But I’m happy where I am—I just will state that!”
Kylie and 47-year-old Paul dated when she was living in the UK, but once she moved back to her native Australia last year, the romance - not helped by a 10,500 mile distance - petered out. Her new album, titled Tension which was released on Friday, is said to have been inspired by her break up. A source said of the album-writing process back in April: “There’s a real sense of power and freedom across all the new songs on the album. It definitely feels like Kylie’s strong and empowered era.”