Dannii Minogue admits she was left bruised by the revelation of her affair with Simon Cowell but says the music mogul isn’t bad - just “as batty as anything”.
The pair got together when they were both judges on The X Factor but fell out after their relationship was revealed in Tom Bower’s tell-all book on the telly executive.
Aussie star Dannii says she was left hurt by the kiss-and-tell biography, said to have been written with Cowell’s co-operation - but hinted it may not have revealed the full truth.
She said: “What the hell is there to say? Fact - or fiction? That’s all I’m saying. I don’t understand any of it. It’s his thing, his issue.
“He’s been amazing and he’s taught me so much. I have so much to be thankful to him for. But sometimes your friends can hurt you.
Judges Simon Cowell and Dannii Minogue had a fling while working on X Factor.
“I don’t think he’s bad. I just think he’s batty as anything.”
Dannii recently filmed episodes of her new show Britain & Ireland’s Next Top Model in Barbados, just yards from Cowell’s luxury house and the super-posh Sandy Lane Hotel where he often stays.
And she admitted wondering what would happen if she bumped into him.
She said: “I’d smile and say, ‘Hi’. I think he would want to run and hide. But it’s his issue.
“I don’t have any nastiness or bad feelings. People only bring you down if you let them.”
Dannii is now working for Cowell again on the Australian version of The X Factor - with Ronan Keating as a fellow judge.
But she said she has no fear of ever seeing the music mogul Down Under as he refuses to fly that far.
In a tell-all chat with The Sun, she said: “I don’t think he knows where Australia is.
“He has that whole thing where he hates flying - and there’s the smoking thing. That’s why he has to go on a private jet, so he can smoke.
“He’s like, ‘I can’t get a private jet to Australia but I can’t do the no-smoking thing either’. ”
Dannii’s latest job as a judge on Britain & Ireland’s Next Top Model - presented by supermodel Elle Macpherson - sees her sitting alongside US male fashion model and actor Tyson Beckford.
The show, which launches next Thursday on Sky Living, is a chance for her to show her maternal side as she encourages aspiring young models to find their way.
And in real life, she is loving being a mum to two-year-old Ethan, her son by her ex, model Kris Smith.
She said: “He’s nearly three and he’s so smart. He said the word ‘obstruction’ the other day.
“He’s big. They worked out that he’ll be 6ft 1in when he’s an adult. Kris is 6ft 4in but my height brings it down. He’s going to be the first tall Minogue.”
Dannii moved back to Oz so that Ethan could be closer to Manchester-born Kris, who is now based there, and her own parents.
She said the arrangement is working well but admitted she would never have planned to be a single mother.
She said: “I’ve got friends who planned that and they love it. But I wouldn’t ever have done it. I’m still waiting for Ethan to say, ‘Dad, lets me do it’ about something.
“My neighbour is a single mum with a 14-year-old. He’s so well-adjusted and polite. He even said to me, ‘Don’t worry, you’ll be fine’. And it is fine.
“There’s a sadness but I don’t worry about being a single mum because I know I’m very, very capable. Ethan’s got grandparents in the UK and in Australia, so it’s cool.
“When Kris and I met in a club it was like Cupid’s arrow - boom. This was meant to happen, little Ethan.
“Kris even dreamt of his name, before we knew we were having a boy. It was like he was just meant to be there. And Kris is a good dad with him - that’s all you can strive for. to be good parents."
Despite being single, Dannii admitted she is so broody she picks up other people’s babies - just to SNIFF them. She said: “Oh, I love picking up babies. Just to warn people out there, I do walk up to mums and say, ‘You look like you need a break’. And I pick up their babies and cuddle them and smell them and sniff their hair.”
Dannii revealed her sister Kylie is loving being an auntie - even though Ethan sometimes gets muddled up because they look so similar.
She laughed: “The first time she picked up Ethan he could smell her and she was talking and we sound really similar. He looked up thinking, ‘Mummy?’
“Even now, sometimes he gets confused. She’s walked in from a distance and he’s said, ‘Mummy’, but then she’s got closer to him and he’s gone, ‘Oh’.
“There’s this amazing poster of Kylie playing the fairy in Moulin Rouge and Ethan looks at it and says, ‘Mummy’s flying’. That’s how close we are. To see her pick up my baby was pretty special.”
So will Kylie be walking down the aisle with boyfriend Andres Velencoso any time soon?
Dannii beams: “I hope so. I’ll hold the train.”
But for Dannii — who split with Kris in April last year — finding a new man isn’t a priority.
With her two shows to juggle, being a mum and with various dramas of her life now firmly behind her, this is Dannii’s time — and she is embracing every minute.
She said: “This is the happiest time in my life. I even did the roulettes with Ronan the other day and put all my money on number nine, and guess which number came up?
“I think 2013 is a lucky year for me, for sure.”
BRITAIN & Ireland’s Next Top Model starts on Sky Living HD on Thursday, June 20 at 8pm.
Dannii has no plans to make up any time soon with her old foe Sharon Osbourne.
The pair were at each others’ throats while both were judges on the UK X Factor back in 2007. Sharon quit after that series.
Sharon, pictured arriving at X Factor auditions yesterday, is back this year, on the judging panel with Gary Barlow, Nicole Scherzinger and Louis Walsh.
Dannii, who fell out with Louis too until they later made up, said: “I’m sure Louis will have fun with Sharon back on the panel.
“I don’t hate her and I do wish her all the best. But if I saw her, I’d walk the other way.
“I have no desire to be in a room with that woman ever, ever again.
“Was Sharon a good signing? I’m not getting into that. That’s for the audience to decide. The ratings will tell.”
Dannii insisted the Aussie version of the show is “the best” and she joked: “World domination, here I come.”
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