Jason Donovan took 'years' to get over Kylie Minogue

11 October 2016

Jason Donovan took "years" to get over his relationship with Kylie Minogue.

Jason Donovan

The former 'Neighbours' co-stars dated for three years until 1989 and the 'Too Many Broken Hearts' singer was devastated when she left him to embark on a romance with his idol, the late INXS frontman Michael Hutchence.

Speaking to Closer magazine, he said: "It was bad enough that she'd run off with anybody. But she happened to run into the arms of the greatest rock god of the period, the very guy I secretly wanted to be. That was a pretty big punch to take.

"It was an extremely painful parting of the ways and, without doubt, I took a long time to recover from it. Years, definitely."

Despite being so close for such a long time, Jason, 48, admits he is no longer in touch with Kylie - who is now engaged to Joshua Sasse - and can't remember when they last spoke.

The 48-year-old star - who has children Jemma, 16, Zac, 15, and Molly, five, with his wife Angela Malloch - admitted: "Kylie and I had an incredible time together but we drifted apart. I can't remember the last time I spoke to her, it was years ago."

The 'Ten Good Reasons' hitmaker is thankful social media wasn't prevalent when he was together with Kylie at the height of his fame because he would have felt inhibited by the glare of the camera phone.

Jason - who has overcome substance abuse issues - said: "I was living an extraordinary life, travelling the world and doing what every young bloke would have liked to do, so it was all pretty awesome.

"I feel sorry for young stars today, who have to come with everyone having cameras on their phones. It'd be a lot easier to get yourself into trouble."