'The toll it takes on your entire life...' Dannii Minogue reveals 'stress' of being X Factor judge
Dannii Minogue has admitted that being a judge on 'The X Factor' "took its toll on her entire life" and affected her mental health.
Dannii Minogue says being a judge on 'The X Factor' "took its toll on her entire life".
The 53-year-old singer was a mentor to the pop hopefuls on the ITV singing competition from 2007 to 2010 - alongside Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, Cheryl Cole and Sharon Osbourne - and she has now opened up on the mental strain she felt being on the programme.
Speaking on Fearne Cotton's 'Happy Place' Podcast, she said: "I definitely had a moment where I was like, 'If this is what [the show] is - the toll it takes on your entire life - I don't know if it's worth it for me.' I remember thinking, 'The show is what it is and I've got to step off.'"
Dannii was embroiled in a dramatic bust-up with her fellow judge Sharon who claimed during an interview with Graham Norton that the 'All I Wanna Do' singer only got a job as a judge "because of her looks and not for her contributions to the music industry".
Dannii is proud of herself that she had the courage to walk away from a show that attracted 20 million viewers in her last series in 2010.
She said: "I feel like I got caught up in a lot of kerfuffle where it was just not my personality to be involved.
“But I felt like there was a machine keeping it going because it was incredible for the show.
“On my last season of 'X Factor', 20 million people watched the final, but I just got to a point where I didn’t want to be a part of it any more.
“I thought, this show is going that way. In my soul, I’m going in a completely different direction.
“I dug deep into myself and found some strength [to quit].”
The Australian star - whose sister is pop sensation, Kylie Minogue - now looks back and feels as though the show should've offered more mental health support, like she experienced when hosting the BBC Three reality series 'I Kissed A Boy' and 'I Kissed A Girl'.
Dannii said: "The first time I've worked on a TV show - bearing in mind I've worked on TV since I was seven - the first time I've ever been told, 'If you need to speak to someone they're there', was on 'I Kissed A Boy' season one.
"It's the first time I ever thought that my mental health was important, and was acknowledged.
"It would have been really helpful back in 'The X Factor' days to have had anything like that."
The 'Love and Kisses' singer also revealed how long the days were when working on 'The X Factor', and how she was always the first to arrive each day.
Dannii recalled: "The length of the days were so long.
"We would go straight into rehearsals for the next week's songs and none of the other judges were there, I was always there at 10am.
"I'd get home at 1.30 and it would take me three hours to wind down, then they'd say, 'Do you want to just pop over to 'Xtra Factor'?'
"You just want to say, 'I'd rather stick pins in my eyes.'
"But, when you're a viewer at home and you get that extra bit ... it was amazing.
"It just, energy-wise, you didn't get the best of us."
