Kylie Minogue reveals 'nervous breakdown' after failed engagement

Kylie Minogue has opened up in a candid interview. Photo / Getty Images

In a revealing interview, Kylie Minogue has opened up about her failed engagement to actor Joshua Sasse and admitted the months that followed the split were "a nervous breakdown time".

"I tried to be like other people," Minogue told Stellar magazine of her engagement. "That's what people do, they get engaged. I thought maybe that's where I've been going wrong ... I don't know that marriage is for me."

"It was a great beginning. And it just went too fast, too soon. Eventually we realised that we were cut from different cloths. It wasn't right. But in the period of trying to figure that bit out, that wasn't easy. By the time 2017 really got going and I was back in the studio, I was so relieved to regain my sense of self and meet exciting, new people and make new music; the future looked bright, that's all I can say."

Minogue, 49, and the 29-year-old British actor met in November 2014 and became engaged in 2016. They split in February last year.

"Once I was out of the dangerous waters and back on terra firma, I was already thinking, 'OK, that was another experience in life.' If you'd asked me if I wanted to go through it before it happened, maybe not," she told Stellar.

"But it was over in a flash. It was intense, but it was over in a flash."

The singer said she spent the year following the split "rebuilding herself" — but was candid about the low period she experienced as her engagement broke down.

"It was pretty much nervous breakdown time at the end of 2016," she said. "I don't want to overdramatise it, but it actually was nervous breakdown time. It ended up being not so much about heartbreak and more about stress. It was a stressful time.

Kylie Minogue and Joshua Sasse. Photo / Getty Images

"It wasn't good. It wasn't good for either of us. You know, when you are in something like that you're not thinking straight; you can't see clearly. It's really weird to look back and see that everyone else was going, 'Oh, what are you doing?'"

Overcoming her grief, Minogue headed back into the studio. The result is her 14th album, Golden. The new music maintains the pop and dance sounds fans expect, but also shows the results of the singer's experimentation with country. It reflects the carefree attitude she's consciously adopted as her 50th birthday approaches.

Kylie on the cover of Stellar magazine. Photo / Twitter, Stellar

"I've become more aware of time," she said. "If you want to do it, you better do it. Don't faff around. Of course, I'm not 25 with no cares in the world. Life throws you curve balls, you always have to navigate them. It's like a game of Frogger: even when you're resting you still have to navigate your way from here to there."