Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan played Neighbours’ greatest-ever couple in soap’s greatest-ever wedding – with Ramsay Street’s Charlene Mitchell and Scott Robinson’s telly nuptials watched by 20 millions fans in 1987. But when and how did Kylie and Jason break up in real life?
An Audience with Kylie is on the box tonight (December 10), meaning viewers will take to their phones for answers to questions about the Aussie pop legend.
Read on to find out more about what happened to 1980s pop power couple who topped the charts with Especially For You nearly 35 years ago in January 1989.
Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan relationship explained
Kylie and Jason are believed to have met on the set of Neighbours. Her Charlene character debuted in Erinsborough, Madge Ramsay’s daughter, in April 1986.
It is thought Kylie and Jason became more than co-stars when their soap characters got hitched in the summer of 1987. But pop stardom beckoned for both, with Kylie moving on from Neighbours in 1988, and Jason leaving the next year.
Their relationship lasted around three years. The end came as Kylie was promoting her music in Japan, and Jason was doing the same in New York.
‘An extremely painful parting of the ways’
Jason recalled their split in 2016 in an interview with the Mirror. He told the tabloid: “It was an extremely painful parting of the ways. And, without a doubt, I took a long time to recover from it. Years, definitely.”
I took a long time to recover from it. Years, definitely.
Additionally, Kylie’s new relationship with INXS frontman Michael Hutchence appeared in headlines around the world.
Jason went on during his 2016 chat: “It was bad enough that she’d run off with anybody. But she happened to run into the arms of the greatest rock god of the period, the very guy who I secretly wanted to be.
“That was a pretty big punch to take.”
‘I could see her slipping away’
Dad-of-three Jason, who married wife Angela Malloch in 2008, also previously indicated he believes professional “jealousy” may have contributed to problems in their personal life together.
He said during an appearance on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories in 2012: “I knew I was in love with her when she became successful on her own.”
Jason added: “It was a jealousy thing. I could see her slipping away. I am sure it happened before that. But it was not until I could see her going off in one direction, I thought I was going to lose her.”
Read more: Kylie Minogue’s appearance on The Graham Norton Show causes a stir as fans flock to her defence
An Audience with Kylie airs on ITV, Sunday December 10, at 7.45pm.
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