Kim Wilde has opened up about a pivotal moment in her career that changed the way she viewed fame and life in the music industry. The singer, who became one of the biggest pop stars of the 1980s after the success of her debut hit Kids in America, said witnessing Jackson's level of celebrity showed her the darker side of superstardom.
Touring with Michael Jackson
"Touring with Michael Jackson in 1988 made me realise how frightening extreme fame is," Wilde told the i newspaper. "It forces you to live inside, in a gilded cage. I saw how isolated he had become, so I felt very grateful I was the support act and still had all the fun."
The experience proved to be a turning point for the chart star, who enjoyed 25 UK Top 50 singles and became the most-charted female singer of the decade. "I got to travel, then go home and have a life - get my groceries without a bodyguard," she said. "That tour experience was the beginning of me thinking about leaving the music industry and finding another world."
Reflections on Fame
The star's reflections on touring with Jackson come as a new three-part Netflix documentary, Michael Jackson: The Verdict, revisits the star's 2005 trial. Jackson was accused of molesting a 13-year-old at his Neverland Ranch, allegations he denied before being acquitted on all counts.
Wilde, now 65, explained that fame had never come as a shock because she grew up around it. The daughter of singer-songwriter Marty Wilde, she said celebrity was already part of family life before her own career took off.
When Kids in America was released in 1981, the then-20-year-old was still living at home but quickly found herself travelling the globe. "Some young people can find fame suffocating, but I loved being spoilt rotten," she recalled. "I had champagne waiting for me in my bedroom anywhere I went."
However, fame also brought unwanted attention. Wilde remembered finding a man attempting to climb the drainpipe of her London home and said she had also dealt with people sleeping outside her house.
On another occasion, shortly after she married actor Hal Fowler, two unexpected visitors arrived looking for her. "A couple of Russians walked round to the back of the kitchen, and knocked on the door. 'Where is Kim Wilde? I want to marry her.' My then-husband walked out and said: 'You missed the boat mate. I married her six months ago.'"
Life After Music
After stepping away from music to raise her children, Wilde pursued a new passion and enrolled in horticulture classes at the age of 36. The move eventually led to a successful career presenting gardening programmes and winning a Gold Award at the Chelsea Flower Show.
"I went back to college at 36 to study horticulture," she said. "People called it a reinvention, but I just had all this passion for learning and gardens." She added that leaving the music industry came with very few regrets. "When I left music, the only thing I missed about the music industry was having my make-up done," she added.
Today, she credits gardening, dog walking and meditation with helping her maintain balance, while continuing to perform her back catalogue on tour. Catch Michael Jackson: The Verdict from Wednesday, June 3, on Netflix.
