A tearful Kylie Minogue has confessed she has spent years searching for a love to rival that of tragic Michael Hutchence - yet admitted: "I haven't got it," reports the Mirror.

The pop icon spoke at length about her ill-fated romance with the INXS frontman in her forthcoming Netflix documentary series, revealing she still senses his presence nearly 30 years after his death and believes he remains "with" her.

Kylie, now 57, said their relationship transformed her life entirely and described Hutchence as the one man who truly inspired her to discover her authentic self.

Speaking frankly about the relationship, she said: "We were good together. You go on and live your lives but it was definitely an amazing point in time and I have probably been looking for something like that ever since and I haven't got it."

The Australian singer also said in a recent interview with the Sunday Times’ Style Magazine that her romance with the rock star had a huge impact on her.

When asked if the late Hutchence was the love of her life, she responded: “Yes, probably. I’ve had lots of relationships, some were love, some were not.

“My relationship with him, or our relationship at the time, was not for that long, but it had a profound effect on me.”

The couple were together for two years, between 1989 and 1991, after they met at a party.

The romance came not long after the Spinning Around star had ended her relationship with Neighbours co-star Jason Donovan, which saw the pair dating for three years.

Simply titled Kylie, the forthcoming documentary series will be hitting screens on Netflix on May 20.

Over the three-part series, Kylie reflects on both the triumphs and heartaches of her remarkable career, which also revisits her romance with Donovan.

She first rose to prominence playing mechanic Charlene Robinson in the beloved Australian soap before becoming one half of television's most cherished couples alongside Jason's Scott Robinson.

Their 1988 on-screen wedding drew almost 20 million viewers in the UK, catapulting the pair into superstardom. But while the public grew fixated on the Neighbours' couple's wholesome image, her life was about to transform dramatically following her encounter with wild rock star Hutchence.

Jason reveals in the documentary how she was aware Hutchence was pursuing her, admitting: "I could tell he was focused on her... I could sniff that a mile away."

After getting together in 1989, Minogue and Hutchence's romance proved challenging due to relentless travelling and Hutchence's touring commitments with INXS. Minogue disclosed that they made desperate attempts to sustain the relationship, even exchanging video messages while separated.

"But Michael was touring all over the world so it became really hard to see each other," she explained. "So I would send video messages to him. But it became more and more difficult." Ultimately the relationship collapsed, leaving Kylie devastated. "He was the first in so many ways. And of those firsts was heartbreak. I was devastated," she says. "He was a rock star which doesn't just mean that he needs to have many women in his life but he needed to go where he needed to go."

Despite parting ways, she maintains the pair remained profoundly connected and claims she subsequently discovered just how much Hutchence kept thinking about her.

"I know from people in his circle that he talked of me and thought of me," she revealed. The singer also spoke with deep emotion about the aftermath of Hutchence's death by suicide in 1997 at the age of 37.

At the time, Kylie was so devastated she escaped both London and Australia in a bid to flee her overwhelming grief. "I didn't know what to do," she admitted. "I didn't want to be in London or Australia and so I went to Paris. I was feeling heartbroken and was escaping my feelings."

The star attended Hutchence's funeral in Sydney and remembered being completely overcome by the enormous wave of emotion surrounding the singer's death.

"I remember being at the church and it was overwhelming, the outpouring of love for him," she said. Yet amongst the sorrow, the pop star says she encountered something she still finds difficult to put into words. "This is going to sound totally crazy but I felt him going, 'It will be OK,'" she said. "I always feel he is with me which is kind of crazy."

The singer became visibly moved as she looked back on the special connection they shared and the profound impact Hutchence had on her self-belief. "You can have relationships... but really someone that believes in you so much," she said.

"He really didn't want me to be someone else for him at all. He was encouraging me to discover me." She revealed that Hutchence became her greatest pillar of strength during some of the most challenging periods of her career, including the furore surrounding her controversial X-rated stage shows.

"Whenever the going got tough, I had that love and support from Michael," she said. Those difficult times included accusations regarding her artistic credentials in which she was labelled a "singing budgie." The criticism became so intense she confessed that she "kind of broke down."

She says: "It was a baptism of fire....being 19 years old and having to cop that, it was unpleasant....there was a point in time where it all got too much. I remember having a moment when I just kind of broke down. I must have been crying and in a bit of a state and I wanted to stay in and not have to go out and face it and put myself out there."

Jason recalled this period as well. He says in the doc: "When there was all this criticism about her voice, she really struggled, she really struggled."

The forthcoming three-part series, produced by the team responsible for Netflix's Sir David Beckham documentary, Beckham, also includes clips from her childhood, alongside interviews with her sister Dannii and musician Nick Cave.

If you’ve been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please call the Samaritans in the UK on 116 123 for confidential support

Kylie will be released on Netflix on May 20