Personality (January 1998) Interview by Henry Kléber Photography by Stéphane Sednaoui Original French version

Just a few hours before flying back to London, her adopted country, Kylie Minogue shares her bathroom with us, for the time of an interview in a hotel room in New York.

Do you share your bathroom?
I share a flat in Chelsea with a girlfriend. But we have separate bathrooms. It's only since I've settled in England I spend a lot of time in the bathroom. In Australia, it 's not the type. It's more like a fast shower. But showers are horribly ancient in England. So, you learn to like the baths.

What's your bathroom like?
Quite Spartan. All white, with a big shower.

Do you sing under the shower?
Strangeley almost never.

Are you in favour of shower curtains?
No, they are all ugly.

How much time do you spend in your bath?
Not much time. And yet, I own a big bath, quite deep. When I want to relax, I put essential oils, like Aveda. But, very soon, I get bored. So ten minutes of bathing, then I come out, ready to face the whole world.

Where do you buy your bathing products?
At Lush's [on King's Road], a shop which sells natural products.

What do you read in bath?
Anything. Everything. Nothing.

Do you put foam in your bath?
No, only when I stay in hotels. Or when I am back from snowboarding: I pour Epsom Salt in my bath for relaxing, an old-fashioned remedy, typically American.

What is the most unusual place where you had a bath?
In a train, the Orient-Express, somewhere between London and Venice, a few years ago.

How much time do you spend in your bathroom in the morning?
It depends. I have a quite chaotic lifestyle. If I go out, an eternity ; if I go to a studio,  just a few minutes because I know a make-up artist will be waiting for me.

Where are the best bathrooms?
Hard to say. The coolest hotels often have the most ridiculous bathrooms...

Do you steal soaps in hotels ?
Sometimes. My aim is to travel with minimum luggage. So, I use whatever there is, but it wouldn't occur to me to steal a bathrobe. I would be too scared to be bring down God's wrath upon me.

Where do you stay in Paris?
Hôtel Montalembert. No problem, good bathroom.

New York-Los Angeles: where do you prefer having a bath?
In Hollywood, there are some hyperglamourous bathrooms. You easily imagine  the star making-up before going out...

The worst country for its bathrooms?
China probably. Very, very rudimentary.

The best?
I was recently in Hong Kong, at the Harbor View Hotel. Just after the Chinese takeover. I was staying in the royal suite that the Chinese prime minister had just left. A splendid view on the bay and a giant tv over the bath.

The most eccentric?
I remember having several baths flavoured with green tea and other exotic substances in the foothills of Mount Fuji, in Japan.

Do you frequent saunas?
In L. A., I go to spas. They give you a massage, they cover you with honey and cucumbers. In a few minutes you think you are Cleopatra...

Where would you like to have a bath?
In the Dead Sea. I have been to flotation tanks several times in Australia. You know, these tanks where they place you and let you float for an hour. A super relaxing new age thing.

What should a man never do in a bathroom?
Well, on that subject, I am rather resigned. Guys don't behave in bathrooms. They spread water everywhere. To be honest, I think I would ask myself questions if a guy had a particularly neat bathroom.

Do you judge your man on his behaviour in your bath?
Sometimes. On the way he washes me, of course. That's the first condition to seduce me.

You've been going out with a guy for a few days ; should he leave his toothbrush?
Dilemma. That would make a good subject for  "Seinfeld". New episode : the toothbrush. The best is to keep several new toothbrushes at home,  just in case. Because a bloke who leaves his toothbrush can be cool, but also not at all. You can say: "Great, like that,  I know he 'll come back. Or shit, he will have to come back!"

Do you like when a man sings in the bathroom?
Yes, even though I have never been serenaded in my bath.

The oddest thing you experimented in a bathroom?
[Laughs.] Sorry, I can't talk about it. The best story of my life, and the strangest, happened in a bathroom.

Where was it?
In New York.

And you were not alone?
No... I can just tell you I keep a very fond memory of it.