Dannii Minogue discusses motherhood, ageing and Young Talent Time

It's the year of 50 for Aussie entertainer Dannii Minogue. It's the 50th anniversary of Young Talent Time, the show that made her a household name, she's just become an ambassador for Yellowglen which is celebrating it's 50th year, and she turns 50 on October 20.

And she can't wipe the smile from her face.

Her son Ethan turns 11 in July and the singer and entertainer can't help but wish he'd stay this age forever.

"I just each year think, 'I wish I could keep you this age'," Minogue tells 9Honey. "When he was little I'd strap him into his seat in the car with a dummy and he would dance along to the music. I wished he could stay like this forever but then there are all these cool things we do now, but he can't be 10 forever."

Recently when she picked him up from school camp he ran towards her yelling, "Mummy!" but she knows this bubble will burst when he enters his teenage years.

"He's loving footy at the moment so we go to the park and I try to kick the football," she says. "I could never do sport. I can't catch and I can't throw but I try my best."

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They also love visiting the zoo together and more recently have been trying tree surfing which sees them walk between tree tops using harnesses.

"There's lots of climbing and stuff like that and then a big flying fox zipline," she says.

With all that activity its no wonder Dannii is so focused on staying healthy and active, so she can keep up with her son, preferring walking to the gym and Zoom workouts when time allows.

"We all want to look like JLo," she says. "But our knees creak and we can pull a muscle just getting out of the car, and after COVID wearing heels I'm like a baby ostrich. It's so bizarre. I used to only wear heels and I can't now!"

Not that she worries much about ageing.

"I'm enjoying seeing Ethan growing up and without sounding completely 'drippy', with Kylie going through cancer and that whole portion of time not knowing what was going to happen, people say, 'I'm getting old' and I think, 'Yeah, the lucky ones do."

The Young Talent Time (YTT) 50th anniversary celebration has been a wonderful time for Dannii and her co-stars, which included singer Tina Arena.

To this day people will come up to her and tell her they were fans of the show, mostly older women.

"It's really incredible," she says. "Weekly I'll get people stopping me saying they were huge fans of Young Talent Time and then a different generation of kids will know me from X Factor."

Still, the magic of YTT can never be forgotten and photos of the reunion are now all over her Instagram account.

This Mother's Day Dannii and her family will enjoy high tea with her grandmother on her mum's side, Millie, who is 101.

"She's really cheeky and naughty and healthy and fabulous," Dannii says.

On Sunday morning Ethan will cook his mum breakfast in bed, "probably toast" and he'll pick flowers for her from the garden of their Melbourne home.

Later in the day Dannii her sister, singer Kylie Minogue, will visit their mother Carole.

"Kylie is in Australia at the moment so we'll have a whole girly weekend," she says.

Reflecting on their relationship, Dannii says they are as close as two sisters could be and far from the days when they were kids and had "drawn a line down the middle" of their bedroom so they didn't steal each other's hair brushes.