Noughties icon Dannii Minogue appeared to be living the high life during her glamorous stint as an X Factor judge, but the reality was starkly different behind closed doors.
The star's four years on the show nearly broke her, and in 2011 she fled back to her native Australia after suffering 'anxiety, depression, and stress'.
The 52-year-old had signed up for the judging panel alongside show originals Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne in 2007. But rumours of an affair with her head judge soon began to circulate and her aptitude for her job was questioned by everyone from Graham Norton to Noel Gallagher.
The star joked she couldn't wait to be "up close and personal on a daily basis with Simon" and speculation increased when they were spotted holding hands in a car after Children In Need. Dannii cooly dismissed their flirting, saying: "That man could flirt with a book, a wall, anything. I don't fancy him and I don't have a type I go for but I like a man who makes me laugh, who's intelligent and speaks his mind."
The star said she had 'insults flying at me both on and off screen' (ITV)But according to an interview for unauthorised biography, Sweet Revenge: The Intimate Life of Simon Cowell, the music show mogul, 64, was smitten. "I had a crush on her," he said. "It was genuine love. I was like a schoolboy. She was foxy. She was a real man's girl. Very feminine."
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Outspoken Sharon took a huge dislike to Dannii when the rumours began to swirl, later writing in her autobiography: "She had an uppity attitude as she was f***ing the boss."
The Osbournes star, who quit the ITV show just a year after the pop star joined the judging panel, told Piers Morgan on Life Stories: "I didn't hate her because hatred is very close to love and takes a lot of emotion and I don't have that time for her. She was like an insect, a mosquito that wouldn't go away."
Dannii compared her nemesis to a 'school bully', writing in her autobiography: "I had to put up with insults flying at me both on and off screen. Over the course of the next year, Sharon announced to anyone who would listen that I was impossible to work with (but never explained why), that I was only on The X Factor because of my looks, not any visible talent or contribution to the entertainment industry and Simon employed me only because he wanted to sleep with me."
Simon admitted to having a 'crush' on Dannii (PA)
The Australian popstar has never confirmed or denied the rumours they had a thing (Ken McKay/Talkback Thames/REX/Shutterstock)Cheryl Tweedy replaced Sharon, going head to head with Danni each week in the X Factor fashion stakes. But by the time Dannii left the show in 2011 she was 'broken'. "There were a lot of people conspiring to make that happen and it brought a lot of people enjoyment to see me so under the pump," she told Australia's Herald Sun. "I get that it is a TV show... but you have to be fair and it just got to the point where I was so unhappy."
The pop star, who moved back to Australia with her son Ethan after suffering with her mental health, has always refused to confirm or deny the rumours about her and Simon, telling the Mirror: "If he says it's the truth then that's what he's saying. But I don't have anything to do with that."
More than a decade on, the star is presenting BBC Three gay dating show I Kissed a Girl after fronting sister show I Kissed a Boy last year. And in a recent interview about the programme, she came out as queer.
"There hasn't been a show for the girls in the reality gay dating world," said Dannii of the new project. "The best thing that can happen to this show is that everyone watches it and everyone has questions."
"I identify as queer in a weird way," added the star.
Watch Dannii Minogue on ITV's Katie Piper's breakfast show today at 8.25am
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