Dannii's truimphant return - HOW I GOT MY X-FACTOR BACK!

Vowing to give up fame up for good after a toxic TV experience, the singer’s ready to shine

She walked away from her career at the height of her fame – and Dannii Minogue couldn’t be happier. The Australian performer might have turned 50 last month, but there’s no sense of time slipping away for Dannii: just a deep sense of gratitude that she recovered from her years in the spotlight and lived to tell the tale.

“It was time for me to step off the train,” says the Baby Love singer. “And when I did, I kind of went, ‘Thank God I survived that…’”

It’s been 30 years since Dannii’s album Love and Kisses set her on the path to international stardom.

The former Home and Away actress had set up her base in the UK – where she remained for 20 years – and she enjoyed a solid pop career before stepping things up even further in 2007 by becoming a judge on the British reality show The X Factor.

The show, with its millions of viewers around the world, pushed her career into the stratosphere, but the fame came with a heavy price.

“It felt like a pressure cooker and I didn’t know if it was worth it any more,” reflects Dannii. “The X Factor was on the front pages every day – as out there as you could possibly be.”

To make things worse, she found herself facing cruel taunts over her music career from fellow judge Sharon Osbourne, whom she likens to a “school bully”.