In this series, I meet extraordinary Australians...
This is what I do. This is who I am.
It's so exciting to be here.
(LAUGHS) (LAUGHS)
..who tell me their fascinating stories...
It was like someone had just given me gold.
..while I paint their portrait.
I'd sleep with my bat as a kid. (LAUGHS)
My challenge is to capture their character...
That's not what you've got the power of the microphone to do.
..and put it on the canvas.
I was born this colour for a reason.
The portrait is theirs to keep, so I want them to like it.
Oh, my God! Oh, it's superb.
Oh, my God. Wow!
Dude! That's incredible!
Wow! Oh, my God.
She's hot! (LAUGHS)
Welcome to Anh's Brush With Fame.
Dannii Minogue is a master of reinvention.
♪ The phone rings in the middle of the night
♪ My father... ♪
We first saw her on our screens when she was just seven years old.
A lot of people think I look a lot younger than I am,
but I'm 20, I'm not lying, so how much?
And since then, she's built a diverse global career in TV...
♪ Love and kisses
..music, and fashion.
♪ Love and kisses for me... ♪
I want to know what it's like
to grow up in Australian showbiz's royal family.
I'm feeling very excited to have my portrait painted by Anh Do
because he's one of my favourite artists.
There's some intensity that he captures.
It's going to be quite confronting to see my face this big.
I'm excited.
Dannii Minogue is a household name in Australia and the UK.
In four decades of public life,
she's navigated the ups and downs of celebrity,
with the enduring support of her family.
She seems to have a self-assuredness and confidence
that I wanna get into this painting.
Hey, Dannii! Hello!
Mwah! Welcome. Thank you.
It's so exciting to be here. (LAUGHS)
This is amazing to be meeting you,
and so close to all this incredible artwork.
Thank you, thank you. I'm really looking forward to this.
I'm a fan. (LAUGHS)
Take a seat, Dannii. Thank you.
Wow. The seat. Here we go.
Yeah, yeah. Wow. Nice boots. Thank you.
They're really cool. Thank you.
I may as well just put one down while I'm down here.
The first. Ah!
You know, the first... The first bit! It's on.
Yeah, the first bit.
Let's go back to your childhood.
You grew up one of three kids. Yep.
Kylie the eldest, brother and then yourself?
Yeah. I'm the baby.
You're the baby. (LAUGHS)
And you were a bit of a tomboy? Yes.
I guess... I just had to be because I was closest in age to my brother.
So I was kind of trying to keep up with what he was doing,
and there was a lot to do with BMX bikes, frogs, mud,
and I guess I became his experiment -
so, you know, I became the little sister
that got pushed down the hill on the bike.
"Yeah, you'll learn how to ride." (LAUGHS)
And there was always a lot of music in the house, wasn't there?
Yeah. We had a record player.
Stevie Wonder, Songs in the Key of Life was a huge one.
Jackson 5. Yeah?
Yeah, Mum and Dad loved their music,
and I guess we were influenced by stuff that they were playing.
Mm.
Your parents renovated houses, so you moved a lot?
They did. (LAUGHS)
Yeah. I guess we started living a bit further out of town.
It was what Mum and Dad could afford.
And to move closer into town, they renovated houses.
So, we would always buy the worst house in the street
and just be constantly living with building going on around us,
and then as soon as the house was finished,
we'd move to the next dump and start doing that up again.
So we never got to live in these houses that were beautiful.
You often had to share a room with Kylie?
Yeah, I shared a room with my sister and there were typical sister fights
and there was often masking tape
that we put down the centre of the room -
"Don't cross onto my side!"
"I'm not going on your side!"
Or, "You stole a hairbrush."
Normal sister fights.
But, yeah, it was so much fun.
How did you become a part of Young Talent Time?
Like most kids in Australia,
Saturday night TV was watching Young Talent Time,
and I just loved all the singing and dancing.
Tina Arena was my favourite in the show.
And I said to my parents, "I would love to learn how to do that -
"the singing and dancing."
Dad opened up the Yellow Pages,
and he said the biggest ad that was there
for going to learn singing and dancing -
and it wasn't far away -
was the Johnny Young Talent School.
So, I went there to do lessons and classes.
Teachers saw something in me
and they said, "There's something about this girl.
"You should audition her."
Mm.
They said, "She's not the best singer, she's not the best dancer,
"but there's something.
"See if... you know, if you see the same thing."
Contestant number three is Danielle Min...'Minoke'?
Is that the way you say it? Minogue.
Johnny Young agreed,
and Dannii joined the Saturday evening show as a tiny tot,
when she was just seven years old.
♪ Oh, girls, they wanna have fun... ♪
She was an audience favourite until her decision to leave the show at 16.
(APPLAUSE, CHEERING)
Loved it. Mmm.
It was cool.
What was it like to be a child star?
I just was doing something that I loved doing.
It was about four nights a week after school
and then all day Saturday,
and then on Sunday I'd just kind of rest
'cause it was, you know, a lot of energy you're expending.
And then there's schoolwork all around it as well.
Yeah. So, I was with the nerds.
I used to do my schoolwork during my lunch break
'cause that was the only time,
and I really wanted to get good grades,
so I would go into the library,
get all my studies done before I left school
to go straight to rehearsals, 'cause...
Wow.
..we'd get home from rehearsals late, so...
What time? ..there was no time to do...
Sometimes, on the vocal recording days,
it could be ten o'clock at night.
Like, I'd have no idea how Mum and Dad would wait around
and drive us home and then get all the kids ready
for school the next day.
It was such a commitment.
You must be so grateful to them for all the time they put in.
It's unbelievable.
It was such a commitment as a family.
And then at 16, you left Young Talent Time.
Yeah.
Was that hard to move on and forge a new life and career?
Um... it wasn't hard, 'cause I wasn't...
..I didn't think anything would happen after that.
Only months later in 1989, Dannii was offered a recording contract
and her first single, Love And Kisses,
reached the top ten in Australia and the UK.
Tell the truth about Mitchell or I'll rearrange your face!
She turned to acting... Ouch!
..shaking off her squeaky clean Young Talent Time image...
Truth hurts, doesn't it? Jerk.
..when she joined Home & Away as bad girl Emma Jackson.
Thanks but no, thanks. I can look after myself.
In 1992, you met Julian McMahon. Yes.
We met on the show and I thought he was pretty handsome,
and he later became my... you know.
He was my future ex-husband. (LAUGHS)
Before you know it, he's asking you to marry him.
Yeah. How old were you at the time?
I was 23 when we got married. Wow.
Which I look at now and I'm like...
It's young. Yeah. Young to get married.
But I felt like I'd lived a lot and I'd done a lot
and that I knew what I was doing,
but I did not.
And his dad is the former prime minister.
Was that intimidating at all?
I think his family were quite intimidating.
Yeah. His mum did not like me.
I guess there's a certain social pecking order, and I...
..I definitely was not in that scene.
Mmm. She only spoke to me a couple of times.
She wouldn't let me go to the family house.
I know... sometimes he had to go round and collect something
and I was waiting in the car out the front.
It was as if I'd done something wrong to the family,
but I hadn't done anything wrong.
She thought I was going to take something from Julian
or take something from them,
but... I mean, what I ended up doing was offering him support
when he went to New York to start his acting career.
I paid for everything, I supported him,
and she didn't have to,
so she had nothing to worry about.
But I guess... fear.
On the actual day of the wedding, there was drama.
She'd said she wasn't going to show up.
So, that's quite stressful. Mmm.
And Julian and I were going ahead with the marriage regardless,
so we just said, "Well, it's all organised for you to come,
"if you want to come.
"If you don't want to come, we understand."
So, then she did end up coming... (LAUGHS)
..and, you know, was causing a scene and... yeah, it wasn't the greatest.
It was... yeah, hard.
Jeez. Wedding days are stressful anyway...
Right?! (LAUGHS) (LAUGHS)
..without Lady McMahon turning up unexpectedly.
I just tried to stay away from it
'cause I just wanted to enjoy the day.
And you guys had arranged for photos to be taken
and magazine deals and all that,
and then there were some sneaky photographers or something.
God, back in the day when film was developed.
So, we had agreed to take some photos
and a magazine was going to print them.
We thought, "Great. Everyone's happy, get to see the photos,
"it's all done, we can get on with our wedding."
From the film being developed
and... between that and it going to print,
another magazine had paid someone to steal the pictures...
No! ..and print them.
So then the magazine that WERE buying them were trying to sue us...
Oh, no.
..to say that we'd done another deal behind their back.
The guy at the cameras... The guy at the cameras! Right.
Um, and we still don't know who that person was
or how much they got paid,
but someone got paid to steal the pictures.
A year after their wedding,
with Dannii living and working in the UK
and Julian pursuing his acting career in the US,
their marriage fell apart.
Dannii found herself in London, broken-hearted and in debt.
It was a situation I got myself into and... you learn a lot.
Yeah. The fault on both of our parts.
We shouldn't have rushed into it. Mm.
Silly, silly, silly.
And round about that time, you were offered to do a Playboy shoot?
Yeah, I was offered to do a Playboy shoot,
which would get me out of debt.
And I actually felt when I did the shoot,
it was actually really liberating as well.
It was just like a hand being offered to me to lift me out of it
and... just being sort of... reborn again.
It's one shoot you do and then your problems are solved.
Mum and Dad did not want me to do it.
Obviously always very cautious and practical with their advice,
and they're like, "Once you've done it, it's done.
"You can never go back."
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
And I said, "Yeah, I'm sure."
I was in control of the shoot.
I knew the photographer, how I wanted the pictures.
People might think, "Oh, Playboy - women are exploited."
I was in complete control of it.
So I'd just felt like they'd offered me this amazing situation
to sort out a problem I'd got myself into,
and I don't regret it one bit.
It was... it was an amazing experience and, you know,
"There's something that Mummy's done - she's appeared on Playboy!"
(LAUGHS)
But, yeah, I'm still happy with the photos today.
Yeah.
Dannii's determination to overcome challenges
shows a depth of character.
I really want to capture her inner strength and resilience.
Talk me through your relationship with Jacques Villeneuve, F1 driver.
(LAUGHS) What was that experience like?
Are you into F1? Do you know anything about racing?
I know a little bit, but I just know it's just a fast world, right?
It's a bit nuts. It's a machine. It's a big machine.
Yeah, when I met him, I knew nothing about it.
And tell me what happened
when a policeman pulled Jacques over for speeding.
Oh, I would get so annoyed because Jacques would drive really fast
and I'm like a real nanna in the car
and it's like, "Stick to the speed limit,"
and he would drive so fast.
So, from the house in Monaco to Nice Airport,
he would, like, come up behind someone like he's racing,
with two inches,
and I'm like, "This is too dangerous.
"You can't drive like this."
And sure enough, yeah, we get pulled over by the cops
and they look in the window and they go, "Mr Villeneuve!
"So sorry. Keep moving."
I'm like, "No! You... you should be giving him a ticket
"and telling him not to do that!"
So I would try and drive the car to get to the airport
so that it wasn't so scary.
But life in the fast lane with Jacques didn't last forever.
In 2001, they released a statement simply saying they'd grown apart.
In a way, like, he'd grown up in just the racing world
and I'd grown up in the TV world,
and that's all we did.
We just did what we loved and they were such different, you know...
..different jobs and different... different worlds.
I really admire the work you do to help charities
and there was one time when you were supporting a HIV charity.
Yep. It was really difficult.
I had stepped up to being ambassador for the Terrence Higgins Trust,
and they wanted to do quite a bit of education with younger kids.
I was meeting with... from teenagers through to university,
so I had a lot of connection and I felt maybe I could be useful here.
And tell me about the magazine
wanting to do a story that wasn't true.
So, this was in London and I come home to my apartment building
and there's a bunch of flowers for me,
and I take it up to my apartment and there's a letter with it.
I open up the letter and it says, "Hi, I'm such-and-such journalist
"from such-and-such publication,
"and we are running a story tomorrow to say that you are HIV positive
"unless you contact us."
Like, what kind of blackmail is this that comes with a bunch of flowers?!
Yeah.
We called up and said, "This is a really heavy accusation
"and you'd be in a really bad place to print it, because it's not true."
And they told me and my manager
that they knew more than I did about myself...
(LAUGHS) Yep. ..and that they knew it was true.
And they were so sure about it
that they said thank you for contacting them
but they are letting us know
that they are going ahead with the article.
So I just thought...
And pre social media, you have no... no voice to say what's going on.
The only thing I could think to do at the time -
I rang my GP and I said, "I'm coming over to you now. I need help."
Oh, God, just thinking about it now just makes me feel...
And I said, "They're going to run this article
"and the only thing I can do is if you can take some blood now
"and you get the results to them immediately
"before they run this tomorrow."
So you delivered the results and that stopped it?
Yeah. I said, "That's what I told you on the phone - that I'm not -
"so don't run the article because it won't be good for you.
"But, you know, maybe you could spend some column inches
"talking about the charity work that I do
"for the Terrence Higgins Trust."
While the story wasn't printed, the media attacks intensified.
In 2011, investigations revealed that members of the British press
had been illegally hacking the phones of high-profile targets for years,
including Dannii.
Years before it did come to light about the phone hacking,
I'd said to my friends many times, "Something's going on.
"I'm being followed, I'm being watched.
"There's things that are coming up and happening and coincidences
"that unless someone's watching me, following or listening to me,
"it can't be happening."
My friends, every one of them,
said to me, "Aw, honey, you're just getting so paranoid.
"You've lived in this pop world for too long.
"And, yes, you're on the cover of magazines and this and that
"but, seriously, you're not being followed or tapped, you know?
"That's in spy films."
And, um, sure enough, when the phone hacking scandal came out,
my name was on every list
and they were following my phone and my messages.
The thought of having a book out there
with your phone conversations with your loved ones
and personal stuff recorded is...
That must feel spooky and just... yucky.
Yeah, yeah, it's spooky and just wrong.
It's just so, so wrong. So wrong.
How do you feel about the press making stuff up
about your rivalry with Kylie?
Does it annoy you to be compared to your sister all the time or...?
So annoying, Anh!
(LAUGHS) It is. It's really annoying.
Like, we just... we're a tight family unit
and we support each other.
And, yeah, I remember there was a lot of stuff
written about my weight,
and comparing my size and physique to my sister,
and the general crux of it
was Kylie's this perfect human being and I'm not.
And... I guess I'm lucky that I was quite, like, a feisty character.
I didn't have a problem with it.
Like, everyone else had a problem with it.
I probably would have had some kind of eating disorder
and some really bad mental issues dealing with it.
I'm just glad that I'm kind of a strong person.
And maybe in a way that's... you're attracted to this job
'cause you've got to have a thick skin.
And then one day Kylie gets diagnosed with breast cancer.
Yeah. It was really shocking.
The worst part was I was really far away -
so, I was in London and she was in Australia.
And I just wanted to get back, not only to see her -
because I just felt like, "Oh, I need to see your face!" -
but to be there for my parents, because I was just thinking,
"How does that feel as parents, to be told your daughter has this?"
We wanted to be there for her
and then you throw on the media being interested in it
and wanting to provide answers to the public,
who were interested to see how she was.
Yeah, navigating all of that was particularly hard.
It's hard enough without the media and everyone wanting to know,
let alone with put all that on top of it as well.
Yeah. And she was just an absolute star.
For the tiniest, littlest person,
I don't know where she pulls it up from
but she was absolutely incredible with everyone
and with the situation and being calm about it,
'cause she had to, her life depended on it.
But then at the time when Kylie was OK,
your best friend was diagnosed as well.
Yeah, my best friend was dying of cancer.
And so... the world was rejoicing that Kylie was better
and everywhere I went, every person I bumped into
stopped and spoke to me about cancer.
And, um... my best friend had gone into hospital
and I knew that she wasn't ever going to come out.
I felt very trapped at the time by it all,
trying to celebrate and rejoice and grieve at the same time.
Really... it's a weird feeling.
Dannii was able to find comfort and strength
by throwing herself back into work,
first as a judge on Australia's Got Talent
and then in the UK on Simon Cowell's massive hit, X Factor.
But longstanding judge Sharon Osbourne wasn't impressed.
Well, she didn't like me. She'd made it very clear about that.
I think it was something to do with me being an annoying mosquito
and I should be squashed.
It was a lot more graphic than "I just don't like you".
Had you done anything to her or...
I still don't really know why,
but there were three judges
and the show was running beautifully without adding a fourth one.
Maybe she personally wasn't ready for it.
In one way it was horrible because it was so public.
And, like, I'd be going to the petrol station to fill up my car
and I'm standing there putting the petrol in my car
and I'd look over at the newspaper stand and every headline...
..there's a picture of me, my name's in it,
Sharon's name's in it.
And I'm, like, going, "Oh, this is really awkward.
"I just really wanna fill up my car really quickly and get out of here."
Like, I could not escape it.
Does your thick skin protect you from that kind of personal attack?
I definitely had to dig through to a deeper strength.
Another layer. Let's go down.
Sharon ultimately left the show,
while Dannii stayed on for another five seasons.
In 2008 she met former English rugby league player Kris Smith,
and two years later they welcomed a baby boy, Ethan.
I never had a burning desire to be a mum, ever.
I'd never babysat kids
'cause I'd, like, never had time to do those, you know, normal things.
Kids grow up and they'd babysit other kids.
And I was nervous with my brother's children -
I never knew how to hold them or what to do.
And, so, it wasn't natural for me at all.
And now, yeah, I see someone else's baby, I'm like,
"Let me... let me take that baby off you. Let me pick it up."
Swaddle.
I love it. I love babies.
From that day on, when you have a child,
then you suddenly learn about all those things
that your parents said to you with all the best intentions,
then you hear yourself saying them to your child.
So true.
And the circle continues, and it's just... it's incredible.
Motherhood bought Dannii a love she never expected,
with Ethan remaining her number one priority
since parting ways with Kris in 2012.
Dannii, you've lived such a big and varied life.
What has it taught you about this thing called life?
Yeah, I don't know.
I think I have more questions now than I ever did before.
It's coming together - this thing called life.
It's coming together.
There is a lot more enjoyable moments than not enjoyable moments.
If you could go back and change anything,
would you change anything?
I wouldn't change a thing. Yeah.
I honestly wouldn't.
Most of it I can look back on and laugh.
It's taken some time, but it's nice to be able to laugh about it.
It's been an amazing life. Do you think?!
Yeah.
For you to say that, that's incredible.
I'm sitting here in front of Anh Do and you're saying that to me.
Yes. Get out.
No, it's been fun. I've been lucky. It's been fun.
Dannii, I'm nearly done. Yeah?
So, I'm just gonna finish off your hair.
OK.
And I love how there's, like, just there's a freedom about it, you know?
A freedom. (LAUGHS)
(LAUGHS) Um, so, I'm gonna put that in.
OK.
I need another half-hour to finish this off really good,
and I'm quite happy with it.
I can't wait to see it.
And I'll bring you back and I'll show you the Dannii Minogue.
Thank you. Alright? Just take a little break.
Thanks.
Oh, I'm nervous.
OK, see you soon.
I'm in awe that he can paint
and just make you feel like you're in a space
where everything washes away and it's just a conversation.
I so just wanted to stand up and look at that canvas
and see what was on the other side.
Dannii's been on our screens for a long time,
so her face is very familiar to us.
So likeness is important here.
She also has a spark and energy that I want to portray.
I think I'm done. Let's bring her in and see what she thinks.
OK, Dannii, I'm all done.
Ah... Come on back.
So, I've really enjoyed our chat today.
Thank you, me too.
You know, you have a lovely child-like effervescence
that I wanted to put into the painting.
OK.
And you have the most lovely big eyes.
So, I've put those two together
and the painting kind of has an elfin, pixie-like quality.
OK. But I'm pretty happy with it.
Us Minogues, we're pixie size.
OK, so, I need you to close those big eyes.
Ah! OK.
And don't open them till I tell you.
No.
Alright, Dannii, open them.
Now? (LAUGHS NERVOUSLY)
Oh, my goodness.
Oh, wow, you got the eyes.
You got everything.
Oh, that's incredible.
Whoa.
Do you see the pixieness, a little bit?
I do and the complete likeness.
It's quite confronting to be looking at your own head that big.
Wow, that's cool.
That's amazing.
I absolutely love it.
Thanks for coming on the show.
Thanks, Dannii. You are amazing.
He's captured me, no doubt about it.
This is amazing.
I've got to have the most amazing chat with Anh, who I adore.
And he's so easy to talk to.
And at the end of it you get an amazing portrait to take home.
It's such a bonus.
Despite the sometimes brutal glare of the spotlight,
Dannii has survived and made the most of her opportunities
to build a long and successful career.
I look forward to seeing where it takes her next.
Next time, Deborah Hutton.
A style icon who's influenced a generation of Australian women...
What happens when you start getting older
and nobody wants that face and that voice?
What happens to me then?
And the absolute insecurity around that.
..through her work in magazines and on TV.
I've got to capture that charisma on canvas.
Oh, wow!