Stone survivors: Kylie and Sharon

BOTH have beaten killer illnesses – and Kylie Minogue and Sharon Stone were keen to prove that if you get a second chance at life, enjoy it.


They united to perform two songs at an Aids charity auction during the Cannes film festival after the celebrity-packed audience had pledged £200,000 a tune.

Kylie sang her hits Can’t Get You Out of My Head and Locomotion, with Sharon providing the backing – to the delight of watching stars like George Clooney, Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell and Matt Damon, who knew how lucky they were to be there to witness it.

Kylie, 38, was forced to postpone her Showgirl tour when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005. But after surgery and chemotherapy she fought the disease successfully and has been back performing since the end of last year.

Basic Instinct actress Sharon, 49, suffered a stroke and a brain aneurysm in October 2001, which saw her hospitalised for seven months. She was the hostess at the £2,500 a ticket auction, where she invited women in the audience including supermodels Claudia Schiffer, Elle Macpherson and Naomi Campbell to bid to kiss 45-year-old Clooney.

But a mystery woman won by paying £178,000 for a full-on-the-lips smacker with the Hollywood heart-throb. Clooney had stepped on stage to auction a yachting holiday, only for Sharon to suddenly announce: "If you put up enough money, George will kiss you."

Others who performed included burlesque artiste Dita Von Teese, who danced around a 9ft tall lipstick. Celebrities also bid for luxury lots including custom-made Louis Vuitton luggage, Swarovski crystal jewelled shoes and a tennis lesson from Monica Seles.

Sharon has chaired the American Foundation for Aids Research for 12 years. After her brain haemorrhage, she said: "I lost all feeling in my left leg for eight months. Compared to that illness, nothing has been so difficult. It was as if I had been shot in the head."

Kylie split from her boyfriend Olivier Martinez in February after four years together. The French actor helped her to beat cancer but their relationship fell apart after he allegedly cheated on her.