December 20, 2025 1:31 am EST

Dannii Minogue has revealed how she managed to stay grounded after finding fame at such a young age.

The singer and actress, 54, first rose to fame as an adorable ten-year-old on the iconic Australian singing show Young Talent Time.

After leaving the show in 1988, Dannii was cast in Channel Seven soap Home And Away at the age of 17.

She played the rebellious Emma Jackson on the popular soap from 1989 to 1990, and credits the role for keeping her on the straight and narrow.

Speaking to News Corp ahead of her anticipated return to acting in the Channel Ten drama, The Imposter, Dannii said she channelled her early rebelliousness into Emma’s character.

‘I was speaking with a friend recently and said: “I got a year of being in physical fights, throwing milkshakes over people, saying the most horrible things”,’ she told the publication.

Dannii Minogue has revealed how she managed to stay grounded after finding fame at such a young age

‘My friend said, “That is so not you,’ and I said: “But it was really good for me to act it out because then I never had that rebellion after leaving Young Talent Time.’

Dannii added that the role kept her grounded, unlike other child stars who fall victim to the pitfalls of fame, such as Britney Spears.

‘I never had the Britney Spears shaving my hair off moment,’ she said.

‘I never had that and I really feel that year of just being getting that out of my system was incredible.’

It comes after Dannii recently revealed that she ‘wouldn’t be alive’ if she wasn’t so mentally strong after years of ‘nasty comments’ and being compared to her elder sibling Kylie.  

Speaking on Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place podcast, Dannii admitted: ‘I’ve said this to my friends: “I know that, if I wasn’t mentally strong and I did have any kind of eating disorder or something, I wouldn’t be alive now.” That is fact. 

‘It was so brutal, and it went on for years.’

And despite critics trying to create a sibling rivalry, Dannii and Kylie, 56, remain a united force.

She played the rebellious Emma Jackson on the popular soap from 1989 to 1990, and credits the role for keeping her on the straight and narrow

‘I was speaking with a friend recently and said: “I got a year of being in physical fights, throwing milkshakes over people, saying the most horrible things”,’ she told the publication

She added: ‘I was compared to my sister, who’s always had a completely different body shape our entire lives.

‘I wasn’t living up to her body. At the time, the only body shape that was accepted was slim.

‘I was a square trying to fit into a hole. You read back now how nasty the comments were.’

Dannii went on to share her priority now is spending precious time with her family and only taking on work that’s ‘important’ to her.

She is in a relationship with music producer Adrian Newman, and said giving birth to son Ethan, 14, in 2010 changed her focus.

She explained: ‘I’ve spent my life travelling around the world, being away, missing birthdays, weddings, funerals.

‘I’m really trying to find the balance now.

‘You can’t have just the happiness without everything else. If you accept there’s light and dark, it’s all part of it.’

‘I never had the Britney Spears shaving my hair off moment,’ she said. ‘I never had that and I really feel that year of just being getting that out of my system was incredible.’

Three decades after she left acting behind, the superstar is set to return to screens in the four-part murder mystery, The Imposter. Dannii is pictured with co-stars Jackie Woodburne and Kym Marsh 

Three decades after she left acting behind, the superstar is set to return to screens in the four-part murder mystery, The Imposter. 

The Aussie star will share the screen with former Coronation Street UK favourite Kym Marsh and Neighbours legend Jackie Woodburne. 

The anticipated drama will premiere on Channel Ten on Sunday 21 December. 

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