Kylie Minogue has breast cancer
Minogue was due to end her world tour at the Glastonbury Festival
Singer Kylie Minogue has been diagnosed with breast cancer, leading her to postpone the Australian leg of her world tour.
"Whilst at home in Melbourne with her family this week, Kylie was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer," her tour company Frontier Touring said.
"Hopefully all will work out fine and I'll be back with you all again soon," the singer said in a statement.
Minogue, 36, has had a total of 37 hit singles in the UK.
Immediate treatment
She had been due to begin the 20-date Australian leg of her current Showgirl tour in Sydney on Thursday.
The tour company added: "She will undergo immediate treatment and consequently her Australian tour will not be able to proceed as planned."
Minogue opened her tour at Glasgow's SECC Arena in March
Minogue said she was disappointed at having to postpone the shows.
"I was so looking forward to bringing the Showgirl tour to Australian audiences, and am sorry to have to disappoint my fans," she said.
Minogue, who rose to fame in the 1980s as an actress in the popular soap opera Neighbours and later launched a pop career, was due to play six shows in Sydney from Thursday.
She was also scheduled to tour Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth over the next month.
Having opened the tour at Glasgow's SECC Arena in March, Minogue had been due to end it with a headline appearance at the Glastonbury Festival in June.
Actress Anne Charleston, who starred alongside Minogue in Neighbours, told GMTV: "If it's diagnosed early enough it can be treated and I think it's a good thing that she's in Australia with her family.
'Stab to the heart'
"They are a very close family and you do need your family around you.
"When I heard it was like a stab to the heart because it happened to me at that same age."
The singer has a devoted fan base
Charleston added: "I think she'll come through it fine. She's very healthy generally and I'm sure she will come through it."
"It's an emotional thing having something like this because you go into the operation not knowing quite what's going to happen."
Minogue has helped raise money for breast cancer causes over recent years and one of her skimpiest bras was sold at auction for £2,400 three years ago for Breast Cancer Care.
Breast Cancer Campaign spokesman Sangeeta Haindl said: "This is sad news about Kylie, a pop star that many of us have grown up with over the years, who has now been diagnosed with breast cancer.
"However, it is important to remember that this is not primarily a young women's disease and there are still 40,470 women diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK each year.
"This is why it's important that women are breast-aware and know the risks associated with the disease."
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When my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer 5 years ago it really was a wake up call for us as a family and made us quickly reasess our priorities. I hope everything goes well for her.
