When Michael Hutchence broke up with Kylie Minogue, he got down on the floor and cried.

It was 1989 and the saying “opposites attract” never seemed more fitting.

Kylie Minogue was the 21-year-old Australian sweetheart who had just left Neighbours to pursue a pop music career.

Michael Hutchence was the 29-year-old rockstar – the INXS frontman who exuded sex appeal.

It was far from a predictable romance, yet it seemed inevitable.

The four women in Michael Hutchence’s life. Post continues after podcast. 

The pair first met at the 1987 Countdown Awards. According to The Monthly, Minogue, whose music career had just begun, recalled how “Michael Hutchence made an effort to come over and say hi” at the star-studded event. But other accounts of the evening suggest his approach was more lewd, with the musician loudly claiming he wanted to have sex with Minogue.

It would be over a year before they met again.

In 1989, Minogue, who was in a relationship with her Neighbours co-star Jason Donovan at the time, met Hutchence after an INXS gig.

After Hutchence invited the couple to an after party, the INXS frontman reportedly began flirting with the pop star.

Speaking on A Current Affair in 2014, Minogue shared that their chemistry was instant. When Hutchence approached Minogue, he said: “I don’t know what we should do first, have lunch or have sex”.

“He did ask to kiss me numerous times and I did say no numerous times,” she said.

Just months after the party, Donovan was no longer in the picture and Minogue and Hutchence’s relationship began.

At the time, the relationship dramatically changed Minogue's public image, as she soaked up the sex appeal Michael Hutchence was so famous for, shattering her previously innocent image.

Speaking in new documentary, Mystify: Michael Hutchence, Minogue admitted that he was "a dark bad boy and I was the pure good girl".

"Sex, love, food, drugs, music, travel, books, you name it, he wanted to experience it," she said.

"As his partner I got to experience a lot of that as well. If you're a sensual being, all of your senses need stimulation. He definitely awakened my desire for things in my world."

Speaking on A Current Affair in 2014, Minogue opened up more about their relationship, adding that Hutchence "took the blinkers off".

"It was a magical time in my life. You're becoming a woman, you've still got a lot to learn and to have someone like that open your eyes to many many things in a rock and roll way, in a poetic way, in a loveable, humorous, amazing way, obviously it was a great time," she added.

"Even when it was slightly on the wild side, he was always very tender with me. I was a precious little thing to him so amongst the headiness, it was always very sweet."

But although Minogue describes the relationship as "a magical time", she believes their relationship was "probably doomed".

"He had insatiable curiosity, all the good things in life and some the bad," she said in Mystify: Michael Hutchence.

"He opened up a whole new world for me. A lot of it was based around pleasure, let's face it. It felt loving, yet sad, but was probably doomed."

By 1991, the couple's relationship was dwindling. After flying from Japan to New York to meet him, Minogue ended the relationship with Hutchence.

Today, however, Minogue can't quite remember exactly why the split happened.

"Was it work, was it the drugs? I don't know. He was like a broken man," she mused.

Watch the trailer for Mystify: Michael Hutchence below. Post continues after video.

Speaking in the new documentary, Minogue shared how the split went down.

"He was on all fours on the floor crying. I didn't know what to do, I didn't know what was happening. I just know he was a broken man," she said.

"I'd never seen a man like that before. I left pretty confounded and destroyed and knew that was it," she added.

"He broke my heart. I have to confess that the hurt stayed for quite a long time."

Shortly after the couple split, Hutchence began dating Danish supermodel Helena Christensen. He later went on to date British television presenter Paula Yates. Together, the pair had one daughter – Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence.

Despite Hutchence's new relationships, Hutchence and Minogue remained friends up until his death in 1997.

On November 22, 1997, Hutchence ended his own life in a hotel room in Sydney.

In 2014, Minogue opened up about how she grieved Hutchence's death following his tragic end.

"I miss him like everyone misses him... he was not short of charisma, that’s for sure," Kylie revealed in an issue of GQ Magazine.

"Let's just say I was 21 and my eyes were open to the world. You want to experience everything and I couldn't think of a better person to, you know, take those first steps into the big wide world with."

Mystify: Michael Hutchence is available to watch on ABC iview now.

For more on this topic:

• "It's literally gone." Decades after Michael Hutchence's death, Tiger Lily still hasn't received a cent of her inheritance.
• Michael Hutchence always wanted a family. But once he had one, his life quickly spiralled.
• In 1994, Paula Yates interviewed Michael Hutchence. Four months later, she left her husband.
• Michael Hutchence and Helena Christensen were a "perfect match". Then a head injury changed him.

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