A burgeoning career, a new man and a baby on the way … Bryce Corbett discovers how Dannii Minogue has finally found her mojo.
A funny thing happened to Dannii Minogue on the way to 40. She found her way into our affections. After more than 30 years of singing and dancing her heart out for our entertainment pleasure and 30 years spent living in her big sister’s shadow, Australia’s most famous sister is stepping into the spotlight. At the age of 38, Dannii seems to have finally found her mojo.
On the career front, things have never looked brighter. Starring roles in one of Australia and the UK’s most popular TV formats have seen Dannii make a triumphant return to our living rooms. And on the personal front, everything’s coming up roses. There’s a new love in her life and a baby on the way.
“It feels like the stars have finally aligned,” Dannii tells The Weekly. “I don’t know what’s going on, but it all seems to be happening.
“The funny thing is, I don’t think I’m doing anything different from what I was doing before, but all of a sudden, it feels like I can do no wrong,” she says. “Not that I’m complaining. It’s nice to be swimming in the slipstream for a change, instead of against it.”
There’s no denying Dannii has spent a good part of her career swimming against the current. Constantly compared to her over-achieving sister Kylie, Danni has been unlucky in love, the subject of swirling rumours of intense sibling rivalry, criticised for fake boobs, Playboy magazine spreads, a Botox obsession and her dogged pursuit of a pop career. For the longest time, whether because of bad choices or dumb luck, our Dannii just didn’t seem to be able to catch a break.
Yet what a difference a couple of years and a duo of popular talent shows can make. Since bursting back onto our TV screens, in 2007, as a judge and mentor on Australia’s Got Talent and, soon after, the UK’s The X Factor, Dannii hasn’t been able to put a Jimmy Choo-clad foot wrong.
After decades of writing her off, we’re suddenly in love with Dannii; her hair, her clothes, her genuine desire to give the benefit of the doubt to every half-baked talent that steps on stage before her. And while the public adulation is well and good, it pales in comparison to the truly good news in Dannii’s life. She is head over heels in love and about to become a mother.
The man in her life is Kris Smith, 31, an English former rugby professional-turned-model, who, if his public declarations of adoration are to be believed, is as in love with Dannii as she appears to be with him. They have bought a house together in Melbourne, are busily choosing names for their unborn child (they know the sex, but aren’t telling), due in mid-July, and are publicly referring to each other as “the one”.
And where, in years gone by, Dannii would have been focused on how many more hits she could squeeze into the next five years, she is now weighing up how many more mini-Minogues she and Kris might be able to produce.
So she’s hit the jackpot. She’s found a sort of professional and personal nirvana. “It’s only taken 30 years for me to get here,” she says laughing. “But I got here in the end.”
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Read more of our exclusive chat with Dannii in the May issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly. Out now with Susan Boyle on the cover.
