Kylie fans offer support

Fans have bombarded Kylie Minogue websites with messages of support after she announced yesterday she had breast cancer.

Kylie, whose hit album "Fever" went platinum in the United States, has postponed her Australian and Asian tour.

The 36-year-old is Australia's biggest music star, rising from humble beginnings as an Australian teenage soap-opera actress to international stardom as one of the world's top pop singers and, most recently, as a flamboyant gay icon revered in Britain.

The Frontier Touring Co. said the singer often known just as "Kylie" was diagnosed with early breast cancer while visiting family in Melbourne this week.

"She will undergo immediate treatment and consequently her Australian tour will not be able to proceed as planned," the company said in a statement.

One fan, Helen Fornber, said: "I have always admired you for being a strong and successful woman. I have no doubt you will get through this."

Another, called Jase, said: "I'd like to wish Kylie and her family the very best in this difficult time. I hope she has a speedy recovery and I, like so many of her fans, will look forward to seeing her on stage very soon."

Minogue, who stands 154.9 cm and is usually seen in stilettos, has become a global music icon through an ability to continually re-invent herself -- from the girl next door in the 1980s to today's sexy, but innocent, pop princess.

Over the years her career has hit rocky patches but each time Minogue, reknowned for her hard work and drive, bounced back.

She has had a series of high-profile relationships, dating in 1989 the leader of Australian rock band INXS, Michael Hutchence, who was found hanged in a Sydney hotel in 1997.

Minogue is revered by some almost as much for her signing as for her bottom since wearing gold hotpants in one raunchy music video. The hotpants have been deemed culturally significant and are now on display in Australia.

Minogue's "Showgirl Tour" was to open on Thursday in Australia before performances in Asia and a headlining act at Glastonbury, Europe's biggest music festival, at the end of June.

She said was sorry to disappoint her fans.

"Nevertheless, hopefully all will work out fine and I'll be back with you all again soon," Minogue said in a statement.

"It is unusual because breast cancer is predominately a disease of older women," Professor John Toy, the medical director of the charity Cancer Research UK, said.

"To be diagnosed at 36 is unusually bad luck for her."

But Toy said the disease was diagnosed early, which speaks well for Minogue's prognosis.

Minogue is understood to be staying with her family at their home in the Melbourne suburb of Canterbury, local media reported.

Her sister Dannii, also a successful singer, was expected to return from London, Australian media reported. It was unclear whether Minogue's French boyfriend, actor Olivier Martinez, was with her in Australia.

- REUTERS, HERALD ONLINE STAFF