In 1989, Kylie Minogue and Michael Hutchence were the biggest stars in Australia – albeit living in two very different worlds. But when they began a heady romance, it changed the trajectory of both their lives and careers. As Kylie pays tribute to Michael on what would have been his 66th birthday, we revisit their formative two-year relationship.
When INXS were touring their worldwide hit album Kick in 1988, tickets to the show were the hottest in town. So Jason Donovan was excited to take his former Neighbours co-star and now-pop star girlfriend, Kylie Minogue, to see the Aussie rockers in action. Little did he know, he would set off a chain of events which would end their relationship whilst sparking yet another.
“We got the best seats in the house that evening and backstage passes as well,” the actor recalled in his autobiography Between The Lines. “And when the show came to an end we were asked whether we wanted to come and meet the band.”
It waw a decision which would, ultimately, lead to the end of their relationship. Kylie and Michael were like moths attracted to the same flame, the chemistry palpable as the 21-year-old Princess of Pop met – and bewitched – the 29-year-old rock and roll god.
“I wasn’t the only one to notice the buzz between Kylie and Michael that night,” Jason continued. “I’d noticed him staring at her when we met backstage. He kept whispering in her hair and she kept laughing.”
When did Kylie Minogue and Michael Hutchence date?
It wasn’t the first time Kylie and Michael had met. The duo had previously been briefly introduced at the 1987 Countdown Awards where the frontman reportedly approached her and said, “I don’t know whether to take you to lunch or have sex with you.”
The chemistry, Kylie would later reflect, was “instant”. Fast forward to the INXS after party and, “he did ask to kiss me numerous times and I did say no numerous times,” she said. However when her relationship with Jason came to an end a few months later, Michael was ready and waiting.
It was a relationship that shocked the nation. Kylie was the classic “good girl”. Michael the “bad boy” rocker.
“Sex, love, food, drugs, music, travel, books, you name it, he wanted to experience it,” Kylie reflected in the 2019 documentary Mystify: Michael Hutchence.
“As his partner I got to experience a lot of that as well. If you’re a sensual being, all of your senses need stimulation. He definitely awakened my desire for things in my world.”
From girl next door to sex symbol
Often mockingly named “the Singing Budgie”, Kylie had found transcontinental fame thanks to her Stock Aitken Waterman-penned pop songs. But when Michael entered her life, Kylie’s world widened .
“Professionally, he was so supportive,” she said in a BBC interview. Having told her to “own” her singing budgie title, Michael helped her warm up for her live performances, encouraging her from the wings.
“I mean he was uber, uber famous,” she continued. “He’s an icon already. And he was in the middle of the audience, just gazing up at me, and just willing me, willing me with all of his heart and his love to do well, and he believed in me.
“And it was at a time when so many people didn’t.”
In addition, she overhauled her look on and off the stage. Gone was the poodle perm and in was a sleeker style. Emboldened by Michael, she began experimenting with fashion. It would lead to a more mature and emboldened Kylie, one who was ready to finally grow up.
When she and Michael publicly debuted their relationship, stepping onto the red carpet for her 1990 film The Delinquents, the press went wild.
“I was wearing a custom Morrissey Edmiston dress with the most gorgeous green satin shoes,” she recently told Vogue. “The hairdresser had a wig which we decided looked great. I always loved, and still do love, having fun with wigs… changing your look in an instant!
“I simply liked it and hadn’t given much thought as to the effect the bleached pixie crop would have. Michael and I were wildly in love and with him by my side, I had the best time.”
An equal influence
As Kylie began debuting songs and performances that were winning her new fans, Michael too was being influenced by her.
INXS were recording their long awaited follow-up album X. And it’s leading track was inspired by the pop star.
“Suicide Blonde came from me talking about my character in The Delinquents, we met just after that,” Kylie told News. “My hairdresser called the (colour of the) wig I had to wear ‘suicide blonde’. Anything he wrote at that time, well, I was around.”
And despite the popular theory that Michael was “corrupting” the young star, Kylie maintains that he was simply taking her “blinkers off” when it came to her life and career as she entered her 20s with more confidence.
“It was a magical time in my life,” she would say. “You’re becoming a woman, you’ve still got a lot to learn and to have someone like that open your eyes to many many things in a rock and roll way, in a poetic way, in a loveable, humorous, amazing way, obviously it was a great time.
“Even when it was slightly on the wild side, he was always very tender with me. I was a precious little thing to him so amongst the headiness, it was always very sweet.”
When did Kylie Minogue and Michael Hutchence break up?
Having dated for two years, distance and differences began to seperate the pair.
“He opened up a whole new world for me,” she reflected later. “A lot of it was based around pleasure, let’s face it. It felt loving, yet sad, but was probably doomed.”
According to Kylie, their break-up in 1991 was devastating for them both, with Michael sobbing after she flew from Japan to New York to end their romance.
“He was on all fours on the floor crying,” she recounts in Mystify: Michael Hutchence “I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t know what was happening. I just know he was a broken man.
“I’d never seen a man like that before. I left pretty confounded and destroyed and knew that was it.
“He broke my heart. I have to confess that the hurt stayed for quite a long time.”
A few months after the break-up, Michael would go on to date supermodel Helena Christensen. Yet he and Kylie remained friends up until his tragic death in 1997. Kylie was amongst the devastated mourners to attend his funeral.
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