Kylie Minogue has spoken about her return to her soap roots, admitting that reprising the role of Charlene for the final ever episode of Neighbours was “emotional”.
The Australian star played Charlene Robinson from 1986 to 1988 and the role catapulted her onto the international stage and a music career that is still going strong today.
Thirty-four years after she waved goodbye to Ramsay Street, the singer and her co-star Jason Donovan recently returned to the soap to film a scene for the upcoming last episode.
In an interview with Australian show Today, Kylie said it just made sense to revisit that part of her life.
“For so long I was like ‘well maybe, hmm, I don’t know if that makes any sense,’” Kylie said.
“But I’m still in touch with Jason [Donovan] and Guy [Pearce] and Jason said ‘this could be a nice opportunity to buckle the buckle’ as an ex-boyfriend of mine used to say, or to circle the circle and say thank you.”
Kylie said it was emotional driving back into Ramsay Street and all the memories came flooding back for her.
“It was lovely and emotional. Driving into Ramsay Street was quite something,” she said.
“Firstly where has all that time gone? Secondly everything looks exactly the same. Thirdly, Scott, Charlene, Jayne, Harold, it all just came flooding back.
“There was a lot of talking about memories and going back in time.”
In the 34 years since she left the show, Kylie has become one of the world’s biggest-selling female artists and is the only woman to achieve number one albums in the UK over the last five decades, which she describes as “crazy”.
“It’s crazy. I think of doing my first demo tape when I was 17,” she said.
“I had daytime fantasies about being a singer, I was a pop maniac. So to then be part of that industry and I know what it’s cost me to have that place, but I know it’s given me the opportunities that it’s given me.
“It’s crazy. I didn’t know I would have this impact on people’s lives for a long time. It’s amazing and very touching.”