She is the pint-sized pop star whose singing and acting credentials have cemented her position as a global star. So when the devastating news of Kylie Minogues’s breast cancer diagnosis broke last week, it sent shock waves around the world — prompting so many of her fans to swamp her website with best wishes that the site had to be temporarily shut down.

Who would ever have thought the much-loved star — whose meteoric rise has seen her grow from baby-faced soap actress to polished, internationally-famed diva — could be dealt such a harsh blow aged just 36?

The news served as a startling reminder that the tiny songbird, revered by fans as the ultimate style icon thanks to her flawless looks and impeccable image, is not invincible. Despite her goddess status, even Kylie is not immune to disease — she is flesh and bone just like the rest of us’. But it was immediately clear that, like so many other times in her 20-year-long pop career, she would emerge fighting.

It is almost certain she will have surgery to remove the tumour, after which doctors may decide radiotherapy, chemotherapy or hormone therapy is necessary. Of course, Kylie’s experience must not be elevated as somehow more important than all the other women who are -diagnosed with breast cancer. But her plight seems doubly unfair because she has always cut such a lonely figure on the showbiz scene — workaholic who has yet to find someone to settle down and have children with. As a sad reminder of her childless state, the statistics say early childbearing and breast-feeding reduces the risk of breast cancer.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer for British women, and although there are around 41,000 new cases each year, it is still a disease mainly strikes older women. Only around 2,000 sufferers are in their twenties and thirties but they tend to be affected by a more aggressive form.

It seems so crue that Kylie, who has put her heart and soul into her music career, should appear to be punished in this way. Ironically, she recently spoke of her desire to give up pop and move to Paris to settle down with her boyfriend of two years, Olivier Martinez. ‘I can hear the gentle tick of my biological clock,’ she said. ‘Most of my friends have children. I usually love work but I feel different about it now and, yes, that has a lot to do with Olivier.’