Kylie Minogue has confirmed her split from fiancé Joshua Sasse. The Australian star is thought to have ended the engagement due to mounting concerns over the British actor's friendship with actress Marta Milans, and has asked him to move out of their west London home.
Kylie and Joshua originally met back in 2015 on the set of the musical comedy TV show Galavant, and happily announced their engagement in February 2016. Speaking about how they met, Joshua admitted that he had no idea who Kylie was, telling KIIS FM's Kyle and Jackie O: "I'm not really a fan of popular culture so frankly, I just, I really didn't know who she was."
Kylie also opened up about her fiancé, and how he handled her fame when they began to date, explaining: "Nobody wants to be Mr Minogue. It takes a very strong man to put themselves in that position and I fully appreciate that. The world round you sees it differently and a lot of guys can't deal with that. When I look into Josh's eyes, he is all I see and that makes me very happy. There's a line in the movie Notting Hill that I always think of, when Julia Roberts is talking to Hugh Grant, and she says, 'I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.' For me, it's that simple."
On her blossoming romance with Joshua, Kylie revealed that she felt that they were right for each other. "People are pretty much leaving us to get on with it," she told The Project: "I think the general consensus is, we kind of look right together.
"So even though on paper it might not look right, it just is right. Even if I try and act cool and natural, it's written all over my face that I am very happy."
The pair have a 20-year age gap, and Joshua spoke to the Mirror about why their difference in age didn't matter to them. He said: "I love her – that’s it. As anyone who has met her will attest, she is just the most unbelievable bundle of joy. I don't think [age] matters. I don't think love has a boundary."
He continued: "It's feeling like you are alive with someone else and for me, it's someone else who really makes me feel like I am alive every day. I'll tell you what is: I know I'm in love when I don't want to be anywhere else but with her. Did you ever see a film called FernGully? At the end of the movie whenever a fairy touches something the flowers sprout everywhere? Well, that's what she does."
Kylie confirmed plans to take Joshua's surname in an interview with You magazine.
"Sasse is great name," she explained. "Kylie Sasse is a great name. It's a great stage name. Kylie Minogue has never exactly tripped off the tongue. I'll definitely be taking Sasse but there will be Minogue in there somewhere. Taking a different name makes a statement."
The pair are both advocates of marriage equality in Australia, and Joshua spoke to Australian talk show Sunrise about how they had decided to put off their marriage until everyone can get married there.
"There are chances of a Melbourne wedding but me and Kylie have talked about it and we are not comfortable getting married until this law has passed," he revealed. "That is something that we have talked about and decided on. Why should we? Why is it fair? Why are we more important than anyone else? It's not right and something's got to be done about it."