Dannii Minogue quit UK after X Factor's Simon Cowell rumours left her 'broken'
Dannii Minogue quit the UK after X Factor rumours of a fling with Simon Cowell left her 'broken'. The now 52-year-old star joined the judging panel alongside show originals Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, and Sharon Osbourne in 2007.
But her four years on The X Factor left her suffering 'anxiety, depression, and stress' as she quit to return to her native homeland of Australia. After news of an alleged affair with her head judge began to circulate, her aptitude for her job was questioned by everyone from Graham Norton to Noel Gallagher.
Dannii, who had joked she couldn't wait to be "up close and personal on a daily basis with Simon," was also spotted holding hands with the music mogul in a car after Children In Need.
At the time, the presenter dismissed the rumours, saying: "That man could flirt with a book, a wall, anything. I don't fancy him, and I don't have a type I go for, but I like a man who makes me laugh, who's intelligent and speaks his mind."
But according to an interview for the unauthorised biography, Sweet Revenge: The Intimate Life of Simon Cowell, the 64-year-old was smitten with Dannii. "I had a crush on her," he said. "It was genuine love. I was like a schoolboy. She was foxy. She was a real man's girl. Very feminine."
Sharon Osbourne also took a disliking to Dannii over the rumours, writing in her autobiography: "She had an uppity attitude as she was f***ing the boss."
The Celebrity Big Brother star told Piers Morgan on Life Stories: "I didn't hate her because hatred is very close to love and takes a lot of emotion and I don't have that time for her. She was like an insect, a mosquito that wouldn't go away."
Dannii compared the Osbournes star to a 'school bully', writing in her autobiography: "I had to put up with insults flying at me both on and off screen. Over the course of the next year, Sharon announced to anyone who would listen that I was impossible to work with (but never explained why), that I was only on The X Factor because of my looks, not any visible talent or contribution to the entertainment industry, and Simon employed me only because he wanted to sleep with me."
Cheryl later replaced Sharon, with the two stunning women exciting audiences with their weekly fashion statements. But by the time Dannii moved on in 2011, she says she was 'broken'.
Reflecting on breaking down in tears on a live show, following months of negative press and the comments by Sharon, she told the Independent: "I just had this feeling of wanting to stand up and walk off the show and run.
“It wasn’t my job to come on and spill my crap over the show. My job was to do my job. But I just broke. I completely broke.”
The pop star, who moved back to Australia with her son Ethan, has always refused to confirm or deny the rumours about her and Simon, telling the Mirror: "If he says it's the truth then that's what he's saying. But I don't have anything to do with that."
She's now presenting BBC Three gay dating show I Kissed a Girl after her famous sister Kylie fronted I Kissed a Boy last year. And in a recent interview about the programme, Dannii revealed she is queer.
"There hasn't been a show for the girls in the reality gay dating world," said Dannii of the new project. "The best thing that can happen to this show is that everyone watches it and everyone has questions."
"I identify as queer in a weird way," added the star.
